Kylar Stern (Night Angel trilogy)
Matrim Cauthon (Wheel of Time)
Varys the Spider (A Song of Ice and Fire)
Artemis Entreri (Any Drizzt book)
Tough to really put them in ranking, but here I go with my top 5:
1. The Gray Mouser
2. Fafhrd
3. Vlad Taltos
4. Shadowspawn
5. Nightfall
1. Tasslehoff Burrfoot
2. Storm of the X-MEN
3. Gambit of the X-MEN
Artemis, fine, but wot - no Jarlaxle :) ?!
Also nominate Jerry Cornelius, in all his various guises
Zenith the albino, from the Sexton Blake adventures (if they don't have to be protagonists)
And Fantomas (see above), both of whom could do a number on Professor Moriarty.
I am with the Gray Mouser/Conan crowd... if I had to pick a third and only from Fantasy, maybe I would go with Robin Hood.
Kalam and Apsalar (both from the Malazan Novels)
Arya Stack
The Upright Man and Jimmy the Hand from the Raymond Feist Novels
Slippery Jim Degriz...aka the Stainless Steel Rat....can't believe he hasn't been mentioned before
Kalam and Apsalar (both from the Malazan Novels)
Arya Stark
The Upright Man and Jimmy the Hand from the Raymond Feist Novels
Slippery Jim Degriz...aka the Stainless Steel Rat....can't believe he hasn't been mentioned before
Slippery Jim Degriz...aka the Stainless Steel Rat....can't believe he hasn't been mentioned before
Only twice, anyway -- or three times if you count your double post.
He's a great pick, though -- near the top of my list, along with the oft-mentioned Gray Mouser, Cugel the Clever, Macore of the Shadowlands (Jack Chalker's "Dancing Gods" series), and maybe Jimmy the Hand.And there was a Mickey Reichert novel that had some thief who wanted to get himself arrested, so he figured he'd intentionally botch pickpocketing a cop. Only, although he stumbles and rummages in the guy's pocket for a while, he still gets away with it! He immediately thinks "Even I can't be that good, can I?" Of course, it turns out the guards had been instructed not to arrest him, but the incident was amusing nonetheless.
I'm surprised Don Diego de la Vega didn't get any mention here.
Or as he's better known: Zorro.
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1. Jimmy the Hand- Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar: proves once and for all High Int and Cha are way more valuable than STR and CON. Even for non-magical characters.
2. The Prince of Persia- Yes he was handy with a sword, but the point of that game was fluid motion and trap dodgery. Plus the first and third sands of time games are just, magical.
3. Black Cat- Spider-Man comics. Because rawr.
Possibly Zorro
I'm surprised Don Diego de la Vega didn't get any mention here. Or as he's better known: Zorro.
I'm surpised no one's mentioned Cugel the Clever yet!
Or the Gray Mouser!
Cugel the Clever
the Gray Mouser!
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Possibly ZorroI'm surprised Don Diego de la Vega didn't get any mention here. Or as he's better known: Zorro.
D'oh!
I need a new pair of glasses.
And stop drinking when I'm posting.
We've got Black Cat, who is just a pale shadow of Catwoman, and nobody's mentioned her? And with the movie out right now?
From comics, both Gambit and Black Cat are iconic rogues for Marvel, with Catwoman and Nightwing/Robin doing it for DC (Batman is more an urban ranger type).
Heck, SPIDERMAN is a quintessential rogue. It's not like he's a trained fighter.
Zorro seems that way, but really, Zorro is an iconic masked swashbuckler.
From Fiction, the Grey Mouser is a totally iconic Rogue, with Fafhrd being Rogue Muscle (a place Conan could fall into as well). Gord is all rogue. Silk from the Belgariad also qualifies.
Any 'secret agent' figure works, i.e James Bond.
Sherlock Holmes and MacGuyver are quintessential anti-Rogues...same skillset, motivations completely opposite the norm. ALthough MacGuyver would probably work better as an Alchemist/Artificer, all things considered, with his improvised tech focus.
Wily Kit and Wily Kat. :)
Jimmy the Hand, of course!
And from a more mundane source, the Artful Dodger and that whole crew of Fagan's bunch of pickpockets.
==+Aelryinth
Nobody mentionned Arsène Lupin yet?
If you don't know about this character, see the movie, it's quite good.
Nicomo Cosca
Jean le Flambeaur (the quantum thief)
Apsalara (goddess of thieves in Malazan)
Locke Lamora
Jack of Shadows
Darian Frey
Marquis De Carabas
Jurgen
Silk, definitely, from the eEdings books
Bob, the skull in the Dresden files
Jimmy the hand in the Riftwar series
Talen, in the Elenium series by Eddings
What about Elric's sidekick, Moonglum?
"Elric left the business of raising treasure to Moonglum. Doubtless he intended to gain it though thievery or trickery, but Elric did not care."
This prompted the coining of a new verb among my first gaming group: "Moonglum (v.): To obtain wealth through dishonest means."
Jack of Shadows
Just re-read that, and, really, the dude uses magic and spells for everything, so the rogue class doesn't really fit IMHO (despite his being "Shadowjack the Thief").
I forgot to mention the Dread Pirate Westley from The Princess Bride.
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Autolycus, King of Thieves.
Varys
Yes! Someone remembered Autolycus, Bruce Campbell's rogue character from Hercules and Xena!
No one mention Captain Jack Sparrow yet? And Gord the Rogue will always be the man to me!
Coyote and the Crow Girls from Newford by Charles DeLint!
What's her name? Christy's kinda-sorta-doppleganger.
Vlad Taltos ain't too shabby, either.
batman from dc comics?
mystique from marvel comics?
mouse from the film ladyhawke.
james bond.
conan: best epic level multiclass rogue/barbarian.
rudolph van ricthen: best rogue used in most innovative way
hermes/pan/jason from greek myth
Just from reading the title of this thread, Cugel the Clever was my first choice.
It was fuzzy niceness to see it as the poster's first choice as well. I still laugh when reading Cugel's Saga and Eyes of the Overworld. I would hate to meet Cugel, but his antics in fiction always bring a smile.
My second choice was the Grey Mouser...*blinks*
Fafhrd was not on my list. Though a thief, I always considered him more a warrior first.
Third would probably be Arvid Semminson from Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion novels.
(dis)Honorable mention would also be Liane the Wayfarer from the Dying Earth.
And the Highwayman caught my imagination from a very early age.
The Highwayman
By Alfred Noyes 1880–1958 Alfred Noyes
PART ONE
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle. His boots were up to the thigh.
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard.
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred.
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened. His face was white and peaked.
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord’s daughter,
The landlord’s red-lipped daughter.
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
“One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”
He rose upright in the stirrups. He scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(O, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
PART TWO
He did not come in the dawning. He did not come at noon;
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy’s ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George’s men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.
But they gagged his daughter, and bound her, to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.
They had bound a musket beside her, with the muzzle beneath her breast!
“Now, keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest.
Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love’s refrain.
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horsehoofs ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The red coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still.
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer. Her face was like a light.
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
He turned. He spurred to the west; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o’er the musket, drenched with her own blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
The landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high.
Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat;
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.
. . .
And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard.
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred.
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Greg
Vlad Taltos ain't too shabby, either.
Thank you! I was afraid I was alone amongst these philistines.
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I'm going to go with Walter Slovotsky, from Joel Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame" series.
Oh, and also: Haley Starshine!
@ Greg
Lorena McKennit did a nice rendition of The Highwayman.
My Top 10 Fiction (aka Books):
1. Lock Lamora (Lies of Locke Lamora)
2. Hanse Shadowspawn (Thieves' World series)
3. Reiner Hetzau (Blackhearts Omnibus)
4. Drothe (Among Thieves)
5. Malden (The Ancient Blades Trilogy)
6. Arya Stark (ASoI&F)
7. The Gray Mouser
8. Gord
9. Jimmy the Hand (Riftwar Saga)
10. Silk (Belgariad)My all-time favorite rogue, however, is Garrett of the Thief video game series.
wooot Hanse Shadowspawn
Thank you! I was afraid I was alone amongst these philistines.
Vlad Taltos ain't too shabby, either.
Dude, his author also authored a Firefly novella!!!
How cool is that???
Thank you! I was afraid I was alone amongst these philistines.
Vlad Taltos ain't too shabby, either.Dude, his author also authored a Firefly novella!!!
How cool is that???
Did he now? Normally, I stay away from fiction based on TV and movies, but that might be worth a looksee.
Another vote for Robin the Hood.
Mickey from Snatch
Nicomo Cosca from Joe Abercrombie's books
Catwoman
The Artful Dodger
Mercutio
Did he now? Normally, I stay away from fiction based on TV and movies, but that might be worth a looksee.Thank you! I was afraid I was alone amongst these philistines.
Vlad Taltos ain't too shabby, either.Dude, his author also authored a Firefly novella!!!
How cool is that???
Silk is good and Velvet is better, but Belgarath beats them both, hands down.
Phedre is all sorts of interesting.
Horus is the reason the galexy burns.
And the Highwayman caught my imagination from a very early age. ** spoiler omitted **...
While I admit this is a fine poem, he's hardly among the greats. When your final act is charging a bunch of soldiers in a rage over a lost love and getting shot down like a dog, you're not being very rogue-like. Heck, the paladin could have done that.
We should do a playoff bracket, but I don't know of a good way to do one on here.
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I think Moist von Lipwig should be included.
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Will Swyfte, "England's Greatest Spy" from Mark Chadbourn's Swords of Albion series.