Thief enemy line

The Thief, Bandit, and Brigand are enemies that are battled in Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age. These human enemies are palette swaps of each other that have differing levels of power and defense and are fought in different locations in the games. None of these enemies are randomly encountered; one Bandit and two Thieves are a set of minor characters that make appearances in both GBA games, while all fights with Brigands are scripted encounters in the first game.

The fight with the bandit and thief trio in the attic of the Inn at Vault is the first boss encounter the player is expected to clear in Golden Sun. Unlike most other boss fights in the series, if the party loses against them, a different follow-up cutscene transpires before the party is returned to the town's sanctum. In that scenario, the trio will greet the party differently once they return to the room in the attic, which automatically triggers the rematch.

Later in the first game, the player should return to Vault and talk with the mayor there about the thieves. Performing this is prerequisite for a bonus event in The Lost Age, which is set up for when the Golden Sun game file is saved as a Completed data file and is used to enhance a The Lost Age file with password data transfer. Then, the bonus event will trigger at the point when Felix's party attempts to leave the town of Madra after having encountered Karst for the first time; a scripted battle with the same trio will automatically ensue, and after it is won you will earn the one-of-a-kind Golden Boots, a superior version of Quick Boots.

Thief
A Thief (スナッチャー Snatcher) is a level 6 variant palette-swapped to have decidedly non-human purple skin and hair color as well as purple clothes. Two are fought alongside the Bandit in the game's first boss battle in the attic of the Inn at Vault.

Aside from their potential to use their own Herbs to prolong the battle, the two thieves do not contribute much to the battle and can easily be dispatched with area-of-effect Psynergy like Ray.

A Thief is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects. Its statistics are as follows:

A Thief uses the following battle commands with :

As a not-unintelligent enemy that carries stocked items, the Thief's 25% chance to Tremble and one 12.5% "ability slot" segment of his 25% chance to Threaten with a given action will instead cause the Thief to use one of his stocked items if he has any items remaining in stock and is able to use them applicably; if either he no longer has items in stock or the battlefield conditions do not allow his currently "individually available" item type to be used to a difference-making effect, he will use the called ability as normal. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:
 * [[File:Herb.gif]] 1 Herb: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 50 HP to either the user or his ally.

Bandit
The Bandit (シーフマスター Thief Master) is a normally colored level 7 variant that, along with two accompanying Thieves, is the game's first boss battle. The Bandit is fought in the attic of the Inn at Vault.

In the first game, the Bandit is obviously the more noteworthy enemy in the battle with himself and two Thief accomplices, dealing damage more consistently. Nonetheless, the overall boss battle should be won very easily just by having Ivan rely on casting the Ray Psynergy, and perhaps having the other two Adepts cast offensive Psynergy as well.

The Bandit is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects. Its statistics are as follows:

The Bandit uses the following battle commands with :

As a not-unintelligent enemy who carries stocked items, three 12.5% "ability slots" comprising a 37.5% segment of the Bandit's 50% chance to use Slice and one 12.5% "ability slot" segment of his 25% chance to Attack with a given action will instead cause the Bandit to use one of his stocked items if he has any items remaining in stock and is able to use them applicably; if either he no longer has items in stock or the battlefield conditions do not allow his currently "individually available" item type to be used to a difference-making effect, he will use the called ability as normal. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:
 * [[File:Smoke Bomb.gif]] 1 Smoke Bomb: An item that envelops a single targeted Adept in a smoke cloud, having a chance to afflict that Adept with the Delusion status condition.
 * [[File:Herb.gif]] 2 Herbs: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 50 HP to either the user or an ally.

Brigand
A Brigand (シーフ Thief) is a normally colored level 21 variant looking similar to the Bandit. Brigands are fought in Lunpa Fortress, but not randomly; each one of them is a scripted encounter. One scripted encounter in particular that can be repeated pits you against three Brigands at a time.

Compared to the random monsters fought in the basement of Lunpa Fortress, the brigands are a lot more durable and have more power as well. The ones that are fought one at a time, though, should still be no problem for a party of four Adepts, and depending on the development of your party, the encounter with three Brigands together should not be life-threatening.

A Brigand is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects. Its statistics are as follows:

A Brigand uses the following battle commands with :

On account of being an enemy with low intelligence who carries stocked items, his chance to use one of his stocked items is effectively a separate command that does not overlap with his chances to carry out other commands; while he is currently unable to use his currently "individually available" item applicably at the moment, he will default to using his remaining commands with each action. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:
 * [[File:Smoke Bomb.gif]] 1 Smoke Bomb: An item that envelops a single targeted Adept in a smoke cloud, having a chance to afflict that Adept with the Delusion status condition.
 * [[File:Crystal Powder.gif]] 2 Crystal Powders: An item that generates a usage of the Hail Prism Psynergy when used; thus, four large ice spheres slam into the party of Adepts and shatter in quick succession. Deals a Mercury-aligned attack with a 90 base damage, spread across 5 enemies with . Being a usable item, this assumes that Brigand uses this with a Mercury Elemental Power rating of 100 instead of his normal rating, 80.

Thief
A Thief (スナッチャー Snatcher) is a level 23 variant palette-swapped to have decidedly non-human purple skin and hair color as well as purple clothes. Two are fought alongside the Bandit in a bonus password-enabled event that occurs when leaving Madra after encountering Karst.

Aside from their potential to use their own Nuts to prolong the battle, the two thieves do not contribute much to the battle.

A Thief is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects. Its statistics are as follows:

A Thief uses the following battle commands with :

As a not-unintelligent enemy that carries stocked items, the Thief's 25% chance to Tremble and one 12.5% "ability slot" segment of his 25% chance to Threaten with a given action will instead cause the Thief to use one of his stocked items if he has any items remaining in stock and is able to use them applicably; if either he no longer has items in stock or the battlefield conditions do not allow his currently "individually available" item type to be used to a difference-making effect, he will use the called ability as normal. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:
 * [[File:Nut.gif]] 1 Nut: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 200 HP to either the user or an ally.

Bandit
The Bandit (シーフマスター Thief Master) is a normally colored level 23 variant that is fought alongside and two Thieves in a bonus password-enabled event that occurs when leaving Madra after encountering Karst.

In the second game, despite the Bandit and two Thieves having received major statistical enhancements and stronger healing items, they should still be very easy to defeat by your party of four Adepts.

The Bandit is especially likely to be affected by Delusion-inflicting effects. Its statistics are as follows:

The Bandit uses the following battle commands with :

As a not-unintelligent enemy who carries stocked items, three 12.5% "ability slots" comprising a 37.5% segment of the Bandit's 50% chance to use Slice and one 12.5% "ability slot" segment of his 25% chance to Attack with a given action will instead cause the Bandit to use one of his stocked items if he has any items remaining in stock and is able to use them applicably; if either he no longer has items in stock or the battlefield conditions do not allow his currently "individually available" item type to be used to a difference-making effect, he will use the called ability as normal. His full inventory of items is structured in the following order, with each item's entire stock having to be used up before the next type of item can be available for use:
 * [[File:Sleep Bomb.gif]] 1 Sleep Bomb: An item that envelops a single targeted Adept in a smoke cloud, having a chance to afflict that Adept with the Sleep status condition.
 * [[File:Nut.gif]] 2 Nuts: Used only while a combatant on the user's side is not at maximum HP. An item that restores roughly 200 HP to either the user or an ally.
 * [[File:Weasels Claw.gif]] 1 Weasel's Claw: An item that generates a usage of the Sonic Slash Psynergy when used; thus, large swaths of purple air strikes through multiple Adepts, dealing 120 base damage aligned with the Jupiter element and spread out across 5 enemies with . Being a usable item, this assumes that the Bandit uses this with a Jupiter Elemental Power rating of 100 instead of his normal rating, 80.

Story relevance
The town of Lunpa was originally founded as a bastion for honorable thieves by Lunpa the Righteous Thief, but by the present day and age, it has become the bastion of an empire of ruthless brigands ruled by the conniving Dodonpa, Lunpa's grandson. Brigands operate as agents and extensions of Dodonpa's society, and the overall aim of the thieves is to continually gain wealth and resources by illicit means.

A particular trio of traveling thieves and bandits may or may not be affiliated with the Lunpa brigands, however. By the start of Golden Sun, the unnamed three are staying as guests in the Inn at the town of Vault a short ways south of Lunpa; when Mt. Aleph cataclysmically erupts, the townspeople at Vault fall under a state of panic and confusion, and the trio immediately take advantage of the chaos. They pilfer valuable objects from the mayor's manor and the sanctum, among other places, and they even get a hold of the Shaman's Rod, a wooden stick that is the property of two other people who happened to be staying in Vault at the time, the wealthy merchant and landowner Hammet and his young servant Ivan. With their ill-gotten goods hoarded in the attic of the Inn, the trio are of course suspected by the populace, but they cannot accuse the thieves and put them in Vault's jail without proof.

Hammet, angry that his Shaman's Rod has been stolen, leaves Ivan behind at Vault to search for the Rod while he himself resumes his travels, relying on Ivan's strange, seemingly supernatural powers to aid Ivan in his search. Hammet and his caravan try to return south to Kalay, which Hammet is the lord of, but he finds that the eruption has destroyed the bridge he crossed previously to get to Vault, so he decides to travel north to Lunpa and attempt to do business there. Dodonpa, of course, considers this an obvious opportunity, so he has his brigands take Hammet captive and imprison him within Lunpa's fortress. Dodonpa would proceed to use Hammet to extort money out of Kalay.

Ivan, in the meantime, is met by traveling warriors from the town of Vale, Isaac and Garet, and he appeals his plight to them. The three of them, who are all similar in that they are Psynergy-wielding Adepts, agree to team up and look for the Shaman's Rod and the other stolen goods. The other two help let Ivan read the minds of the thieves, which helps them discover the stolen hoard in the Inn's attic, and the trio of thieves come in and attempt to silence the three by engaging the Adepts in battle. The Adepts defeat the three in battle, and the stolen goods are returned to their rightful owners and the thieves are proven guilty, and they are locked up in Vault's jail. The trio of thieves, whether or not they are affiliated with the Lunpa empire, know what fate has most likely befallen Ivan's master, Hammet, for having traveled north to Lunpa, and notify Ivan of that before they are jailed. Ivan attempts to enter Lunpa on his own without success, so he decides to accompany Isaac and Garet on their own journey from then on.

The trio of thieves develop deep resentment for Isaac as they remain in their cells. They get to work on figuring out how to pick the locks to their own cells over time. Later, however, they decide that they want to break out of the jail before the Colosso season in Tolbi begins, for whatever reason, and they eventually succeed and flee Vault. Free men once again, the trio began a search for Isaac across the world.

Isaac and Ivan's party of Adepts, in the meantime, eventually decides to deviate from their main quest objective and go to rescue Hammet from Dodonpa's fortress. Using a veiling Psynergy they recently acquired in Tolbi, the friends sneak into the guarded fortress at Lunpa, engaging and silencing various Brigands standing guard in their way and avoiding detection from other patrolling brigands. At the end of the episode, the Adepts have successfully confronted Dodonpa and imprisoned him within his own fortress with the help of his own father, the elderly Donpa, and the Adepts sneak their way back out with Hammet in tow; however, since many brigands are still loyal to Dodonpa, the Adepts and Hammet have to be just as secretive coming out of Lunpa as they entered, and Hammet is covertly escorted back to his palace in Kalay in a way that would avoid detection from Lunpa spies that would likely be stationed in Kalay.

In The Lost Age, the trio of thieves begin traveling abroad in their search for Isaac, and eventually end up in Madra. They are apparently around to overhear/eavesdrop when Felix and his own party of Adepts have their first encounter with Karst, who has her own personal vendetta against Isaac and who declares that she intends to seek out and slay herself. After she leaves, the trio step in to accost Felix's party and demand from him the whereabouts of Isaac's party; Felix and his friends do not know, but the thieves then decide to give them "a little taste" of what they have in store for Isaac and attack his party. They are easily defeated, though, and express disappointment that they'll have to go back to jail, but they briefly attempt to appeal to Felix to join his party, then place one of their (possibly ill-gotten) possessions - a pair of Golden Boots - on the ground before scampering off, apparently having made the resolution to stop seeking vengeance upon Isaac.

If Felix's party somehow manages to lose to them, a unique cutscene will play in which he lies on the ground in front of the thieves, and the trio wonder if they have gotten stronger and tell Kraden to let Isaac know that they are "repaying the favor." The party will then respawn in the sanctum, and the encounter will no longer take place once you leave Madra.