I've, finally, beaten the three brothers and got the amulet. As a hint for anyone struggling with the quest you can set a fire rune in front of each of the minions coffins and they will come alive, letting you make the the final coutdown with the first brother a bit easier.

I thought this was a particularily difficult quest, especially in the final dungeon. It seemed to me to be tied in quite closely to the college, after all you get the first fragment as part of the 'Under Saarthal' quest. It seems to me that it should have been a stage towards your Arch Mageness. But isn't. Perhaps Bethesda thought it was too hard?

(Oh, the embarrassment, original, not originul....)

Actually, you can also start the quest from a ruin near solitude, which I believe is the intended place to start as it gives you specific information on the quest and the events leading up to it. It's annoying enough you have to start the college quest line to finish it, at least Bethesda didn't completely tie it to the college.

I started the quest in Sigmund's Hall, and I'm not even into the Winterhold College.

What's your point?!

The point is that you can start the quest and clear three dungeons, but you won't be able to finish the last one without joining the College. Sad, but true.

You can start the quest by reading a book too. I think the book name is the same as the quest, forbidden legend (i have a french version, not sure for the book name in english).

You mean, I can't finish this quest until unless I join the college?

Exactely, to enter one on the ruin you have to be a member of the winterhold college. You explore this ruin in the first quest of this faction. Very bad game design but nothing we can do about it.

One of the most common quest complaints. I did the first two dungeons, and then found that you can't get into the third in any depth until you've joined the guild and subsequently knocked your way through to where you need to go. Fortunately I'd already joined the guild - Tolfdir was waiting outside, which surprised me somewhat, as I'd shot the apprentice next to him dead and got barred from the guild before I realised who they were.

It's also rather annoying that unless you've read this thread or the wiki, there's no way for you to know why that entrance is locked. I stumbled into this problem before I spent a lot of time reading things online. I don't like to spoil things, but there's no way to know this (after spending hours on the quest) without going online. I would never have figured it out with this character, because they weren't interested in the college at all.