A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to steal, and often has inherited wealth. They steal not only to gain material wealth but also for the thrill of the act itself, which is often combined in fiction with correcting a moral wrong, selecting wealthy targets, or stealing only particularly rare or challenging objects.
In fiction
In fiction, the gentleman thief is typically superb at stealing while maintaining a gentleman's manners and a code of honour. For example, A. J. Raffles steals only from other gentlemen (and occasionally gives the object away to a good cause); Arsène Lupin steals from the rich who do not appreciate their art or treasures and redistributes it; Saint Tail steals back what was stolen or taken dishonestly or rights the wrongs done to the innocent by implicating the real criminals; Sly Cooper and his gang steal from other thieves and criminals. Another example would be Kaito Kuroba who only steals to amuse the audience, to find the Pandora Gem and find the people who killed his father.
Gentlemen/lady thieves
Notable gentlemen thieves and lady thieves in Western popular culture include the following:
M. Hercule Flambeau from the Father Brown short stories by G. K. Chesterton, introduced in 1910.
Jimmie Dale, also known as The Gray Seal, from the series of stories by Frank L. Packard, created in 1914.
Filibus, an air pirate in the 1915 adventure film Filibus, is a phantom thief in the tradition of Arsène Lupin, carrying out heists for the thrill of it.[2]
Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint" from the novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris, created in 1928.
Moist von Lipwig from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels; he is the main character of Going Postal (2004), Making Money (2007), and Raising Steam (2015).
Notable phantom thieves in Japanese popular culture include the following:
Lupin III, from Lupin the Third (the grandson of Arsène Lupin, according to his creator, Monkey Punch),[4][5] created in 1967.
The Kisugi sisters (Hitomi, Rui and Ai) from the manga and anime series Cat's Eye, introduced in 1981.
Kaito Kuroba, also known as the "Kaitō Kid", the main character of Magic Kaito and a recurring character in Detective Conan by Gosho Aoyama, created in 1987.
Meimi Haneoka, who transforms into Saint Tail, a phantom thief with acrobatic and magician skills, from Saint Tail by Megumi Tachikawa; created in 1995.
Dark Mousy the angel-like phantom thief from D.N.Angel by Yukiru Sugisaki, introduced in 1997.
Henry Agata (Hikaru Agata) A.K.A. Phantom Renegade (Kaito Retort) from Medabots, introduced in 1997.
Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne, the title character in Phantom Thief Jeanne, created in 1998.
Ada Wong, from Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a supporting and playable character originally appearing in 1998.
Clara, better known as the phantom thief Psiren, an exclusive character from the anime adaptation of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, created in 2003.
Keith Harcourt / Black Rose, from Ashita no Nadja, created in 2003.
Bleublanc, also known as Phantom Thief B, from the Trails series, introduced in 2004.
Jack, also known as Joker, the title character from the anime and manga Mysterious Joker who sometimes works with other phantom thieves in the series,[6] created in 2007.
Riko Mine Lupin IV of Hidan no Aria, the great-granddaughter of Arsène Lupin. Allegedly, she is the child of Lupin III and Fujiko Mine, whom her surnames are derived from; introduced in 2008.
Daiki Kaitō, portrayed by Kimito Totani, a character who can transform into Kamen Rider Diend from 2009 Kamen Rider Decade.
Arsène, Rat, Twenty, and Stone River comprise the Thieves' Empire (Kaitou Teikoku) in Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, created in 2010.
Charles Earl Boles (b. 1829; d. after 1888), known as Black Bart, was an English-born outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies.[7] Considered a gentlemanly bandit with a reputation for style and sophistication,[7] he was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s.
Willie Sutton, a gentleman bank robber of the 1920s who never harmed a person during his robberies and carried only unloaded weapons during the heists.
D. B. Cooper, the only unidentified hijacker in American aviation history, who, in 1971, extorted $200,000 from an airline before parachuting out of a plane during the cover of night. A flight attendant described him as calm, polite, and well-spoken, not at all consistent with the stereotypes (enraged, hardened criminals or "take-me-to-Cuba" political dissidents) popularly associated with air piracy at the time. Another flight attendant agreed: "He wasn't nervous," she told investigators. "He seemed rather nice. He was never cruel or nasty. He was thoughtful and calm all the time."[8] He ordered a bourbon and water, paid his drink tab (and attempted to give a flight attendant the change),[8] and offered to request meals for the flight crew during the stop in Seattle.[9]
Bạch Hải Đường was known as the phantom thief (Vietnamese: siêu trộm) in southern Vietnam from 1970 to 1982. He was wanted by both the pre-1975 National Police and the later Public Security Forces. Bạch Hải Đường was believed to have never killed anyone and that he had only actually used his gun once in a gold robbery, which was also the reason the police started to use lethal force on him.[10] During one of his arrest, he confessed that he used all stolen money for himself.[11] However, since Bạch Hải Đường wasn’t known to be a wasteful spender, there were rumours that he donated his money to charity.[12]
Wuxia, a genre often with secret societies of outlaws who value honor
Xianxia, a wuxia offshoot that is a fantasy genre with some popular works that value radical politics often of a traditionalist Chinese religious bent, and often have brutal thief characters who steal and lie but still have a sense of honor[13]
Maria K. Bachman (2019). "Keeping Up Appearances; Criminality, Durkheim, and the Case of A. J. Raffles, Gentleman-Thief". In Maria Bachman; Albert Pionke (eds.). The Socio-Literary Imaginary in 19th and 20th Century Britain; Victorian and Edwardian Inflections. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780429352829. ISBN9780429352829. S2CID198795382.
