Any way to get into this place aside from the mage quest without using console commands? I'm trying to play a thief with no magic, and I don't want to have to do the mage college questline just to get into here given that this character is not a magic character, but it's impossible to get in otherwise without using console commands. You can't even get into the mage's college without doing the primary quest or console command unlocking the door, and you can't get the key from the old guy there anyway given that you can't pickpocket it from him and you can't kill him because he's essential, and the setessential baseid 0 command doesn't work to make him killable regardless.

It's a shame that there aren't more ways set to bypass these things because it can make some quests unbeatable without using console commands in the first place.

I know what you mean. My firemage wanted all of the words for the firebreath shout, and this required that I join the Companions. At least it's obtained in an early quest. I can see blocking off some dungeons for certain quests, but blocking of dragon walls like this is disappointing.

All you need to do is the first 2 quests.