Thief

For the Thief Staff see: Thief (Staff)

Thieves make for a very special class in the Fire Emblem series. As could be expected, these sword using characters specialize in speed and stealth over power and defense. Naturally, this isn't the kind of class used for head on attacking. The class is open to several special skills unusable to any other class. This abilities include Steal, the ability to take an unequipped item from an enemies inventory, and Lockpick, a skill used for opening locked doors or treasure chests. They are capable of destroying villages, in the rare event that they happen to move to one. Unlike other classes of enemies, they usually leave the map after they've done their job. Thieves can see farther in Fog of War (up to 8 spaces) than other units.

Combat
The Thief focuses on quick and speedy combat (if any at all). Expect to dodge the majority of attacks thrown at you, but don't expect on getting much out of their low attack power. If you're interested on leveling up a thief, you'll need other characters to cover them while they take on weakened foes.

Promotions
From Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi to Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo, thieves did not promote.

In Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, a promotion class was finally introduced in the form of the Thief Fighter, a thief that could now truly hold their own in combat. For some unknown reason, this class was retired after Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, a title which also marked the introduction of the Rogue class. In Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi, thieves once again, could not promote.

In Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, Thieves are upgraded into the Assassin class through the use of the very rare Fell contract. In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, thieves can upgrade to either Assassin or Rogue through the use of an ocean seal and in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Volke starts off as a pre-premote Assassin While Heather and Sothe Become Whispers {Sothe being premoted at the end of Part 4 proluge). Apart from the normal boost in all parameters, the Assassin gains more points into health, resistance and defense than any of their other stats. After promoted, the Thief turns into a class much more suited for combat.

In Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, a remake of the first Fire Emblem game, thieves once again do not promote. However, they are allowed to level beyond level 20, much like Marth so as to allow their stats to somewhat balance out against units that can promote.

In Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi and Monshou no Nazo

 * Ricard
 * Julian

In Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu

 * Dew
 * Patty

In Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

 * Rifis
 * Lara
 * Pahn

In Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi

 * Chad
 * Astol
 * Cath

In Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken

 * Matthew
 * Legault

In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * Colm

In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

 * Volke
 * Sothe
 * Heather