Just completed the Theives guild in Skyrim for my current character, and It got me thinking...The thieves guild, while being one of my favorite and most well developed factions in Skyrim, has a pretty inconsistent lore history. The link to Evergloom, the connection with the Skeleton Key, and the Nightingales is neat, but how does one explain the Skeleton Key being in Oblivion and Morrowind then? In Oblivion, not only did the PC get the key, but he had the option to temporarily destroy it with Martin with no concequences to the Thieves Guild. The Gray Fox seems if anything the opposite of the Nightingales, stealing from Nocturnal rather than striking a bargain with her. And why did Gentleman Jim Stacey have the key? Was he a Nightingale too? It is my understanding that the Thieves Guild in the different provinces are perhaps not the exact same organizations, but the key is a constant theme. Why does the Thieves Guild lore seem to change so much from game to game, compared to the other (fairly) consistent guilds and factions?

The different branches of the Thieves Guild have little or no affiliation with each other; each is a distinct organization. A Daedra can reform an artifact if it is destroyed. My guess for the Skeleton Key is that there may be more than one of them, and the one found in Skyrim is specific to its branch with its connection to the Evergloam.

I, actually, go with the idea that the Thieves' Guilds all have some connection to Nocturnal and are like branches of a temple.

It's just the Gray Fox was kind of the odd man out, why he ran it like a Robin Hood organization.

I had also suspected there was more than one, but personally I think thats kind of stupid because the other Daedra only make one of each, from what I can tell, but the enormous power given to the Skeleton Key in Skyrim compared to previous instances makes me think your right.

Makes sense. And the Gray Fox isnt alone in the idea that the Guild can do good for the poor, Jim Staceys Bal Molagmer in Morrowind seemed similar.

I'm of the mind there's actually a fairly large number of these Daedric artifacts around and they pass them around like party-favors, perhaps even saying they're the ONLY ones.

After all, how would they get their artifacts back if they're sitting in the Dovakiim's chest?

Admittedly, I also believe there's "true" versions of the artifact and Mercer probably had it.

The artifacts will disappear from whoever has it. There's even a legend of a Khajiit named Rajhin that had the Ring of Khajiit, and it disappeared from his hand at a rather inopportune time.

Do you know where thats from? Id love to read it. But yeah I thought the reason the other artifacts show up each game is because either the will of the daedra lord or that they have a mind of their own.

Point taken.

Not much on it, unfortunately. Just a few lines in the book http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Tamrielic_Lore:
"The Ring of the Khajiit is an ancient relic, hundreds of years older than Rajhin, the thief that made the Ring famous. It was Rajhin who used the Ring's powers to make himself invisible and as quick as the breath of wind. Using the Ring, he became the most successful burglar in Elsweyr's history. Rajhin's eventual fate is a mystery, but according to legend, the Ring rebelled against such constant use and disappeared, leaving Rajhin helpless before his enemies."