[the phantom]

Forgive me if I am just repeating things that others have said, but I have barely read the thread and I won't have time to for the next week or so (I'm on vacation and I only have about five minutes on my cousin's computer before I have to run off and do something touristy).

I think you can have free will and fate at the same time.

Let's say that there is something that needs to happen in Middle Earth- something that is supposed to happen.

So, Eru decides to take care of it. In Tolkien's world, people's spirits/souls come from Eru, so He is the one that determines their personality, nature, and such.

So if he needs a certain task to be completed, he can simply tweak someone so that they will end up doing the task of their own free will.

The person has free will and can choose whatever they want, it's just that Eru already knows exactly what they are going to choose because he knows what sort of spirit he gave them and how events would shape their decision.

So if Eru wants something done, he designs someone with a certain blend of character that will bring about the desired result.

If you know what someone is going to do it does not mean he doesn't have free will- it just means that you know what he is going to do with his free will ahead of time.

Make sense?