Y'shtola clearly call him a thief, even the group at who he was belong call themself "honest thief".... he did choose to call himself a bard, but in the end it's a thief. he did learn to use the gladiator swordmanship (it's said too while the CS) after he did stop to steal.

the end of the story line is not a hint to something coming into 3 patch, it was clearly a massive teasing of the two new jobs. Thancred was the thief and Yugiri the ninja, even the way they was showed in action was a way to show the difference. either the class/job come for the 2.3 or the 2.4... but not the 2.5... or this massive teasing was stupid. the 2.5 is in 9 month. it's way too far. and don't hope for a class for the 2.25. he already have stated that mlost of the content of the 2.25 will be pvp oriented.