Fighter or thief?

Okay, so my brand new character in Andy's campaign, Ashes a Gmahan, is a half-elf. He was heir to the rich fiefs of Foo (I forget), despite being the younger brother, because when the elven blood that still runs faintly in the veins of the nobility shows itself, no question of precedence arises. The elves have vanished long ago from the hills. No human heir would be chosen over an elf, even a half-elf; the line is irreplaceable.

That's why his elder brother tried to kill him. Ashes was the less competent lord, and the younger, but he was preferred. He was chased into the King's Forest, and he escaped by being turned into a tree and four hundred years passed. He hates all the others of the Gmahan line for being descended from his brother. That part isn't important now.

I know that he spent most of his time learning magic, and that he's either a fighter/mage or thief/mage. But which one? and this isn't a minmaxing question.

If Ashes were a fighter/mage, he'd have been a fit candidate for lord. His is a warlike society, and he would have been trained to fight, and expected to fight. In this case, the conflict with his brother is much less ambiguous: the brother was power-hungry, or thought Ashes was too much of a fool to rule the land.

But if Ashes were a thief/mage, he would be no fit lord. And then things get much more complicated. He would be disliked at the least for his subtle methods, and if anyone discovered him performing magic, I guess he would fit the profile of a bad guy: a sorcerer, an assassin, and a blackguard. So when his brother tried to kill him, he would believe he was killing a villain. And that might very well be true.

In this case, his hatred for his brother's line comes very close to evil. And that's pretty cool. ^_^

So: clean or dirty? Fighter or thief?

PS. The well-known Vancouver homeless guy, "Harmonica Mark", asked to have sex with me again. I have no idea how I feel about that.

PPS. Hee!

Well, I see you there with a rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
...
And what can I tell you?
My brother, my killer,
What can I possibly say?
I guess I miss you
I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way