1) mages guild. whats stronger than an army of mages slinging shock spells at you?

2) thieves guild
* mages guild is dedicated to rooting out necromancy which is legal
* fighters guild is killing rival mercaneries just because they get all the jobs
* dark brotherhood is a whole bunch of sithis worshipping madpeople that murder
* thieves guild steals stuff and protects the poor

3) dark brotherhood. as said before, they are a bunch of sithis worshipping and murderous madlizards madcats and madhumans

any thoughts?

Your wrong on #2 and #3 in my opiniong

you used the Oblivion one for both... Thieves Guild are far more evil/infamous than the DB

sorry, my morrowind doesnt work

In Daggerfall, the Thieves Guild is actually an organization full of thieves, muggers, prosttutes, brigands, rogues and people who take children for ransoms. Nothing like Gentleman Jim Stacey in Morrowind with his Bal Molagmer Robin Hood or the Gray Fox who give money to the beggars.

I'm hesitating between the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood in the Infamous question. Both have done good things for the political world of the Empire, but they also commit atrocities. The TG helps the economy while the DB sometimes get assassination contracts from anonymous individuals who'd like to see corrupted royal figures removed. Though decision indeed.

The Thieves' Guild =/= Robin Hood's merry band.

That being said, I feel that the Fighter's guild is the most noble (though not by much), the Mages guild would win if some ridiculous fight broke out (it's magic, people, magic!) and the Dark Brotherhood being the most infamous. The Thieves' Guild (going by Daggerfall and Morrowind) weren't actually so top-secret, as long as the Thieves' Guild kept off the Empire's lawn, they weren't ultimately concerned (http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b101_complete_barenziah.shtml). The Dark Brotherhood, however, was a malevolent, illegal, and ultimately freaky bunch, very infamous.

Who'd win fight between the four?
Not dark brotherhood since they wouldn't be organized enough and all the infighting. TG can't really fight, so their only hope would be for the Gray Fox to come up with an ingenious scheme. TG could steal all FG's equipment but they can't steal magic. Fighters guild would get owned by target spells and their close ranged melee would be pointless. So I'd say Mages guild.

Most noble? By the definition of noble: fighters guild of course.

Most infamous? Again, by definition: dark brotherhood of course.

Yes, Mages Guild wins hands down on the first. As to 2 and 3. . . correct if you used Oblivion as the main point of refference.,

You're joking right?

anyway I think the DB would win in a fight since they can't be find by the others and they just assasinate the leaders...

Neither of the 4 is noble.... The Mages Guild can be very mean often. And the fighters guild might hewlp cyrodiil but only if they show some money.... otherwise they can just die......

How exactly is a guild noble to you?! They're all mercs, all they do, they do for money and that's it.

As for other questions:

infamous - I would have to say DB, since I haven't found TG in Daggerfall yet, so I only now the Oblivions and Morrowinds huggsy, warm and fuzzy ones...

who'd win in a fight - fighter's guild of course, don't forget that not all of the members are magically impaired and all are skilled in fighting mages, since it's their job to be prepared to fight ANYTHING they encounter, what's more while mages guild divides it's mer resources to stuff like alchemy and other non-combat-related activities, ALL members of the fighters guild would come forth if it came to a showdown...

1. Mages Guild, a mage could do so many things anyone else would drop dead before they get their weapon out
2. Dark Brotherhood, sure they are murderous cult fanatics, but they are noble in what they do, they work for one common goal and do not stop for petty distractions like the other guilds
3. Thieves Guild, i will not accept oblivion's thieves guild as the generic thieves guild, the thieves guild IMO are a bunch of gangsters who steal, forge documents, smuggle drugs and kill for their own gain, not robin hood and his merry band of mer

mer? robinhood didnt have elves for friends.... might have had some adoring fans perhaps

play on words, merry men to merry mer

Assasins are trained to assasinate EVERYTHING.... and how would a mercenary kill someone he can't see.... I agree that they would win against archer, mages and (duh) thieves.... but assasins.... I don't know.... even in a 1 to 1 They can be really hard for a mercenary.... (O btw... I'm not biased towards assasins... I always play fighters )

I think it makes perfect sense to go off of Oblivion. After all, you wouldn't call every modern German you saw a Nazi, would you?

1) Dark Brotherhood. It would only take a contract for the entire Mages' Guild to be wiped out. And, as Listener, I know the Archmage personally.

2) Thieves' Guild. They are the only guild in Oblivion that seem to bear any sort of integrity. The Fighters' Guild, as was said before, just goes out and roots out other organizations just to get jobs. The Mages' Guild (even if we go as far back as Morrowind) are 1/2 lunatics, 3/8 people that just want you to do their bidding, and 1/8 people that actually have some kind of virtue. And the Dark Brotherhood, quite obviously, is just a tight-knit group of murderers.

3) I accidentally voted Mages' Guild, but I would think the Fighters' Guild. The Mage's Guild is just filled with eccentrics, The Thieves' Guild doesn't even exist as far as the public is concerned, and even less is known about the Dark Brotherhood. The fighters in the Fighters' Guild seem to just turn into thugs when they don't get the work they think they deserve. At least in Leyawiin, they would probably seen as nothing more than nuisances.

glad you agree with me on the fighters guild.... shoulda put them down for most infamous heheh

That of the fighters guild is not true.... Did you played the whole quest line of the guild?
The blackwood company is evil...Besides that it sais it complete's contracts but it doesn't it also kills innocent people.... The fighters guild had all reasons to whipe out the blackwood company and the guild are loyal and honest mercenaries... Much like the Swiss guardsmen...

1:Dark BrotherHood, they would stealthy assassinate everyone of the opposition.
2:Thieves Guild, they have high standards, never kill, steal from, or harm a member in anyway.
3:Dark Brotherhood

question

thery were gonna kill them anyways but then they found a real reason.... besides, they aint as noble as you think

Play MW, do the FG, or Play DF, do the FG, those are fighter's guilds, OB's? Let me think of a phrase. Shining, white, knights... FG=Mercenaries...

Stealthy assassin vs. Detect Life + fireball = crispy assassin.

Most noble? The Fighters Guild is a glorified mercenary outfit. The Mages Guild regulates responsible magic use, which is more noble than "Go there, kill him, get cash.".

I'd get a headache if everyone was purple for me...
Would you really be so paranoid that you do that 24/7?

You'd have a good reason since someone wants to kill you, but still...

1. DB
2. TG
3. DB

DB is no worse than petty thieves, but everyone still knows about them

FG... bunch of mercs that fight for money. Not so noble. If they wanted to be noble, they would have joined a knightly order.

Mages Guild...bunch of magic regulating bureaucrats that will go after people who practice magic outside of the guild, and even bully their own members. Not so noble.

Thieves Guild...thieves that regulate the rate of crime. They occasionally act like robin hoods, but they're mostly there as a necessary evil to prevent greedy, dangerous and/or amateur thieves from overpopulating an area. They smuggle, kidnap, and steal. Everyone knows (except in OB, because everyone has brain damage) who is part of the TG, and everyone knows where they recruit. But as long as the members are not caught in the act, no one really cares, except for overzealous guards.

Dark Brotherhood...they're just a bunch of assassins who will kill anyone, except a fellow brother unless they betray the brotherhood. Everyone employs them, and are seen as an occasional necessary evil. Nobles, knights, mages, and fighters alike know not to mess with them, for they could be in need of their services one day.

1) Who would win in a fight? Considering the DB has assassinated emperors and other powerful people in the past, I'd put my money on the Dark Brotherood.
2) Who is the most noble? Too hard to say, though the robin hood side of the TG is the biggest contender. But to be honest, I'd say none of them. The closest 'noble' group would be the knightly orders.
3) Most infamous. Easily the Dark Brotherhood.

Dark Brotherhood for both 1 and 3. I don't care if the Mages' Guild has magic, you don't know someone's Dark Brotherhood until they're bloody killing you. I don't think there are any particular standouts for 2. Obviously the Thieves' Guild and DB are out, but both the Mages' Guild and Fighters' Guild have their fair share of ignobility.

Those sticking up for the Fighters' Guild speak as if the reason they went after the Blackwood Company is because they're evil. Again, in some cases you guys have to talk about guilds as they are. To reference Morrowind's Thieves' Guild, or Morrowind's Fighters' Guild makes no sense. Again, you can't compare modern Germany to the Nazi government.

And since when are you the authority on what the general populus knows, Hellmouth? Last time I checked, Bethesda was. Just because everyone knew who was in the Thieves' Guild in Morrowind, doesn't mean they know so in Cyrodiil, or even at the presented time.

As far as Dark Brotherhood vs Mages Guild: The Dark Brotherhood doesn't discriminate their members' various abilities. In fact, all you need to be apart of the Brotherhood is kill someone in cold blood. I don't know about you, but at higher levels, a fireball wouldn't stop me from cleaving the hell out of a mage's brains, and on the flipside, a sword wouldn't stop me from incinerating some brute, in either game. There are differen't levels of abilities. And you forget, all an assassin would need is a fire (or other elemental) resistance potion to work for a short time (or the proper race; Dark Elf vs Fire, hmm?), assuming their target was paranoid enough to actually watch their asses 24/7. Even the retired captain you have to murder during the DB quest line, who constantly has his own personal vanguard, leaves himself open when he takes a bath. While not a mage, he was the most obvious Dark Brotherhood target that could ever be conceived.

Morrowind's Fighters' Guild wasn't exactly the most noble either. Anyway, Oblivion doesn't take place that much later in the timeline than Morrowind, and it's pretty ridiculous to assume that such long-established organisations can change so rapidly. It's far more practical to assume that the Thieves' Guild as presented in Oblivion only represents the burglary and theft areas of interest of the guild, with the Gray Fox in charge of that particular area in Cyrodiil. If they released TES 5 with no magic and everyone driving around in Bentley's you wouldn't discard all the established lore from Oblivion and beyond under the same weak "you can't compare modern Germany to the Nazi government" argument.