Quote Originally Posted by veti View Post
Can't you? Keerava will point you to the Ragged Flagon, and once there Vekel will cheerfully sell you Esbern's location, even if you've never spoken to Brynjolf at all. Does talking to Brynjolf break that?
the quest objective points you to Brynjolf.

That you can bypass this by talking to someone else is probably a bonus for people who explore the town and talk to people rather than the intended way to progress the quest.

It's like the murder mystery in Windhelm, some quests give you an alternative option for completing them beyond the way the game tells you to. Hence the comment about bypassing it.

Considering the overlap and cross-referencing on quests, and the fact that you need to do every questline to get every shout, tells me that the intent of the game is that the Dragonborn completing the Companions, Thieves Guild, and College questlines and either joining or destroying the Dark Brotherhood are intended to be canon.