![]() Maybe we have been too harsh on the Robber. It is neutral, simply guiding and testing us along the course of the game. It makes sense, intrinsically so, behind the scenes as the Robber is not evil. This means the Robber is no thief but instead a deity, potentially on a pantheon of others, protecting us from ourselves. We are given an option to steal cards from players, but be warned if we do it too much. ![]() Instead the Robber appears to be there to test our morals, to keep us from getting greedy, and to serve justice if needs be. Maybe we have been harsh on the Robber for all of these years, and maybe he/she/it hasn’t been after our goods after all. The Robber giveth and the Robber taketh away. The Robber knows all and can influence all. He has abilities far beyond the realms of man and instead is something more.Ĭan one man sit on a mountain and stop entire towns from receiving goods? No, but the Robber can. The Robber knows when a seven is rolled and he knows whether players have more than seven cards (ohh, I’ve only just seen what they did there!). One more piece of evidence is that the Robber is not a person as, when a seven is rolled, every player needs to check their hand, whether they are near the Robber or not. They are not purchasing, but rather harvesting. Giving back to the bank is as good as giving back to the environment, so can he really be held responsible for evil when all he does is return to the earth? To explain this notion, when the player gathers resources they take it from the bank. Instead, when the Robber takes resources they are returned to the bank which, in the state of Catan, is a community pool. Instead no one made him a Robber, because he is not a Robber. Thus, according to the mythos, he cannot be the result of the towns forcing him to become a Robber. He is already there when Player One places their first settlement and road. ![]() Instead he is deployed during set-up, so the robber is not a result of the settlements. Secondly, he does not appear when the first settlements do. Without a hand he cannot steal for his own gain. If a player has more than seven cards in their hand then they must discard half however, it doesn’t go to the Robber since the Robber does not have a hand. Why? It’s actually remarkably simple so long as we go back and just look at the fundamentals of what we know.įirstly, the Robber does not rob for his own personal gain. Secondly, he came to the island when it started being divided up.īoth of these, however, are wrong. That is what one of the official backstories says. Firstly, he is a villain who robs for his own greed. Let’s explore what we are told about the Robber. Instead he is an incredibly misunderstood character, and here is why. The Robber is none of those things (he may be from Neanderthals, but that doesn’t really make a difference). There are intrinsic truths that prove those theories wrong. They can’t be true based on what we really know. Those, in my opinion, are somewhat contrasting stories. Finally, there is one other story says he is the descendant of “the strongest legionaire of the Roman army and possibly even from Neanderthals”. Another story states that he only came to the island once rival clans started dividing it up, taking residence in the desert off the back of being irritated with the settlers. ![]() The Robber (who has never really been given a name) set up base in the desert of Catan, soon after the first settlement was built (it was named Candamir for the record…according to the myth…because hey, the more you know). According to the legend, he is a notorious villain. The description, the myth of the Robber, is left a little bit vague. The website has its own page on the Robber and who he is however, even then there is a fair amount left to the imagination. The Robber has a story.īelieve it or not, the Robber really does have a back story. I suspect he may be more than he appears. Those are his very basic functions however, I suspect the little blob of plastic has much more to him than that. From a gameplay perspective, he has two very specific functions – to move resource between players and to stop players from just hoarding cards. It occurred to me today that the Robber from Catan is an incredibly interesting character within the mythos of the game. Okay, so let’s overanalyse something – let’s pull apart who the robber is and what his function is. All I know is that he comes out on a seven and removes half of my hand. Some know him as “The Robber”, some know him as “Pain Incarnate”, and some know him as “The One Who Makes Life Miserable”.
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