Thief: Freemasonry and Esotericism

Thief: The Dark Project, Looking Glass Studios 1998 masterpiece is a testament to intelligent world design with how carefully the world's details are delivered and implied. What in the first level seems like a simple and normal medieval universe, very quickly establishes secrets that hint towards a much more developed society.

Garrett, the protagonist, is trained by a secretive society called the keepers, those whom only interaction with the world is documenting its past, and feebly trying to predict the future, and never interrupting it. Around the starting town you will quickly notice the whirring, yellow street lights and the cogs and gears that line the street that operate them. The seeds of the industrial revolution are here, but have not truly taken root yet. One would think the Keepers are the ones ushering in progress, being a secretive society that monitors the progress of the world from the shadows, but they are not. The Hammerites are. Upon first look, one can see them as a 1:1 analogy to a Catholic religious order. They speak in Shakespearean prose, are all-male, live in Trappist style monasteries, have churches, and worship a singular, all powerful deity known as the Builder.

While a comparison to Catholic Orders can be made, looking at the Hammerites role within society paints a deeper picture. All industrial progress of society was made and ushered in by the Hammerites. High-ranking Hammerites often control areas of finance, judicial systems such as Cragscleft Prison, and often have ties to nobles and non-Hammerite, but still powerful, figures in society. Everything about the Hammerites is about building. They will sing hymns as they pour molten metal into casts. Their art depicts themselves as the bringers of civilization. It's important to note that the Hammerites don't shun more traditional arts such as astronomy and even alchemy, as some facilities contain small laboratories to conduct their studies. Yet industrialization remains the central tenant. The true comparison to Freemasonry is their God, the Builder. Freemasons and their temples often worship 'The Eye', and it has many names, one of them being the 'The Builder'. There is this idea within Freemasons that they are arbiters of knowledge and progress. They are masons and such, after all. The semi-reserved nature of Freemasons mirrors Hammerites well. Their temples are often in the middle of cities, but their secrets are closely kept. Echoes of Magic and arcane arts can be heard from the higher echelons, and the sound of the march of progress remains at the ground floor. For the Hammerites, their whole religion centers around illuminating the 'darkness' of the world, nothing should be beyond their grasp. Their 'All-Seeing Eye' of industrialization is meant to 'civilize' the world and lead it into the light, even if the world doesn't want to.

There are those that reject this. Simply called the Pagans, they reject every core tenant of the Hammerites. They live far away from civilization, in deep forests, where folklore often says that 'magic' is the strongest. Pagans often speak in a way that is almost childish or like how you'd imagine an imp to speak, adding '-y' or '-ie' to nouns. They are completely decentralized, with no organized belief structure. The only two prominent pagans are Constantine and Viktoria, both wolf in sheep's cloth. Constantine's mansion, even before you witness the surreal levels of it, has many areas involving plant and animal life, sometimes sensible, and most times not. The world of Thief is established that supernatural elements not only exist, but wield immense power. Of course Constantine, a Pagan in disguise, tasks Garrett with finding a powerful artifact known as "The Eye". Once Garrett does so, Constantine immediately unleashes the desires of the Pagans unto the material world. Garrett is bound and left for dead, the Hammerites become under siege from human-beast chimeras, and Constantine's great plan begins. It is soon found from his diary that Constantine, and by extension pagans, despise light, especially the ones Hammerites bring. They despise the light not because the Hammerites like it, but because the dark is where the supernatural occurs the most. Deep within darkness is where man lets fear take hold and begin to imagine things. Superstition reigns supreme. Constantine desires a world that is one big forest, with man at the whims of their fears made real by the power of The Eye. To Constantine, man is meant to be scattered, only in small groups, and huddled around a campfire, cowering for what lurks in their peripheries. This is what Constantine desires, his Dark Project. He desires a world that that has religious titles like shaman or druid rather than priest as these more pagan roles often carried more speculation on the supernatural. Instead of living in a world where there is one God, who is omnipotent and omnipresent, there is to be one of many Gods, varying in power, motives, and interest with the corporeal world. No angels to be sent by God to do his bidding, but rather pixies and goblins to carry out their own mischievous deeds on humans.

One may say that both the Hammerites carry esoteric qualities within themselves, as the older members practice magic and study the stars. The difference however, is that firstly, this is all supervised, and constrained toward the Hammerites vision. There is no independent research into divine subjects, Hammerites are completely opposed to all other forms of ethereal life and supernatural belief. The unrestricted nature of the pagans is what the Hammerites oppose. This is best exemplified in pagan and Hammerite architecture. The Hammerite temple is built like a facility, there are production areas, laboratories, and restricted areas for higher-ranked members. Everything could be clearly conveyed on a map. Whereas the essence of Pagan thought is exemplified in a singular room in Constatine's mansion. You will be walking through one of the hallways of the more surreal levels to see a normal door to the left. As you open it and walk inside, you will realize you are on a platform completely suspended in a black void. Walk any further and you will be lost in space forever. It is chaotic, inane, and inexplicable, but that is what is appealing for a pagan. Get lost in thought and space, venture out and possible damage yourself. Other pagan areas seem much more devoted to animals than man, further highlighting pagan misanthropy.

The plot of Thief: The Dark Project is a battle between freemasonry and archaic, pagan esotericism. The All-Seeing Eye of industrial progress against the pagan idea of living in an animated world, where man is not always king.