Thief


 * Not to be confused with the term "THIEF" used in Link's Awakening, or a "Gerudo Thief" from Ocarina of Time.

Thieves are enemies in A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures, who steal things like ammunition and Rupees from Link but cannot be killed. They also sometimes appear as friendly characters.

A Link to the Past
In A Link to the Past, Thieves hide out in the Lost Woods and will barge into Link when he attempts to pass, causing him to drop Rupees, Bombs and Arrows. Once these are scattered, the Thief will rush around grabbing the money and items from the ground, although Link can also retrieve them if he is fast. Thieves do not cause physical harm, but nor can they be defeated by any weapon. Sword blows and other attacks will simply knock them back a short distance and stun them. The best method to deal with a Thief is simply to avoid him, but once they glance at Link they chase him until he is a considerable distance away. If possible, Link should hide behind a tree or bush so the Thief cannot reach him.

Four Swords Adventures
The Thieves in Four Swords Adventures also do not cause damage to the Links, but now steal their Force Gems. They appear in Kakariko Village and are normal villagers driven to criminality by the influence of the Dark World. To access the northern part of the village, the Links must trap ten Thieves (seven of which wear red bandanas while the remaining appear to be normal villagers) by picking them up and throwing them into a fenced in area. Like in A Link to the Past, Thieves cannot be killed, but can momentarily be stunned by a variety of weapons, including swords, bombs and pots.

Friendly Thieves
Aside from appearing as enemies, Thieves will also appear as friendly characters throughout Hyrule. These Thieves will make their hideouts in caves across the land, usually with their collected treasures in Chests or Pots. They will usually offer advice to Link, while others will even often him large sums of Rupees if he keeps it a secret from everybody, similar to Moblins from the original The Legend of Zelda. The main hideout for the Thieves of Hyrule is in the Lost Woods, and while many act as enemies, others are outwardly friendly. One of the Thieves in the forest runs a Treasure Chest Game shop on the north end of the Lost Woods with a massively inflated entry fee, while another offers a clue about an ex-thief that lives near the Desert of Mystery. This thief is now pretending to be an Average Middle-Aged Man, but is a master locksmith. He will assist Link by opening a locked chest containing a Magic Bottle. One thief who has been cursed and transformed into the shape of a hand in the Dark World asks Link 20 Rupees for telling him his story.

It is sometimes thought that the Thieves of A Link to the Past are allied with Ganon due to his status as the king of thieves, but his followers were skilled in black magic as was he, and it is stated that Ganondorf killed his own followers long ago in the fight for the Triforce. Later games revealed Ganondorf's tribe to be known as the Gerudo.

Pikku
Pikku are fox-like thieves that appear in the Village of Outcasts in the Dark World of A Link to the Past. They are people who used to live in the Light World but have been transformed by the magic of the Triforce into a shape that reflects their heart. They wear blue tunics and will charge at Link in the same manner as the Thieves of the Lost Woods. Also like normal thieves, Pikku appear as friendly characters elsewhere in the Dark World. They too will hide in caves throughout the land, usually hidden with their spoils, and will offer Link Rupees if he finds them. Pikku have a striking similarity to Keatons from The Minish Cap, but they do not carry weapons or cause damage.

One special Pikku guards the first room of the bonus dungeon, the Palace of the Four Sword, in the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past. The fox-like creature will not allow Link to enter the dungeon unless he is worthy. If the player has completed the multiplayer mode Four Swords that is also on the game cartridge, and has previously guided Link to destroy Ganon, the Pikku offers to tell a story for 20 Rupees, and will deem the young hero worthy of entering the dungeon. The Pikku will then vanish, similar to a Keaton from Majora's Mask.

A Link to the Past comic
In the A Link to the Past comic, three thieves appear in Chapter 6. Upon leaving a nearby shrine in the Dark World, Link is confronted by three thieves and a Hinox, who ask him about a fairy they are pursuing for her magic powers. When Link tells them he does not have the fairy, the thieves attack  him, but the young hero easily defeats them with the use of a Whirling Blade Attack from the Master Sword.

Trivia

 * Blind the Thief used to be a thief in the Light World before becoming one of Ganon's monsters in the Dark World. He could be seen as the leader of the Pikku, and its possible that Zazakku that commonly appear in the Thieves' Town dungeon are also thieves.
 * Comically, the Thieves in Four Swords Adventures are carried upside down and can be used to break pots.
 * Once all the Thieves are captured in Four Swords Adventures, they will have gone upon revisiting their "prison".