[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

That's what I thought. Take note, everyone: that's why Turgon's decision to hide in Gondolin is irrelevant. If Aredhel had argued with him over the wisdom of that decision and begun an evacuation based on her opinion, she would have been bravely defying authority and convention to defend the interests of everyone, which is the duty of someone in her position. I can't see any evidence in the text that this was her reason. She wanted something for herself, and she was determined to have it, my point being that as far as she knew she might bring disaster to everyone by swanning off all over creation. Someone with a social conscience might have thought twice rather than just blindly insisting on their prerogative.

As for returning: nobody can really blame someone from fleeing the sort of marriage that Aredhel had with Eöl, or for running to the only safe place that they know. However, one might suggest that it's also necessarily a completely egocentric decision: I see no evidence in the story of Aredhel that at any stage she ever sat down and thought: "If I do that, how will it affect other people?"

The only reason that I'm still belabouring this point is because it seems to me that it's being taken as a justification of Turgon, whereas it's just an explanation of how I see Aredhel's personal motivation, and why I don't like it. My opinion has nothing to do with her being a woman, the fall of Gondolin or her disobedience, but came about from my feeling that she only ever seems to think about what she wants, never about anyone else. This, for the sake of comparison, is the most notable feature of Morgoth's personality.