[Galin]

OK, that sort of agrees with my reading of the 1977 Silmarillion. And last night I read the entry provided by Hammond and Scull in their companion (Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin), and it too helped confirm my reading of the tale as published. Christopher Tolkien (commentary The Fall of Gondolin, The Book of Lost Tales) even notes that: Thus in the Silmarillion Morgoth remained in ignorance until Maeglin's capture of the precise location of Gondolin, and Maeglin's information was of correspondingly greater value to him, as it was also of greater damage to the city.

That said, my main point includes mentally taking QN out of the tale however, and substituting instead the information from the two notes, in which (I note) that Maeglin provides nothing concerning location -- or at least nothing that seemed of any use to Morgoth concerning location.

The Silmarillion is a compilation of two texts here, but the very act of including both descriptions arguably colours the true impact of Húrin's part. If one is going to use QN instead of the notes (as was done), naturally Húrin's role must be mitigated -- his information must be 'general' (too general to come with war?), for otherwise Maeglin's information on location will be 'stale news'.

It's not a moral comparison between Húrin and Maeglin, but a possible new connection of the Túrin saga to the Fall of Gondolin (IIRC in earlier versions Húrin's release does not result in revealing the location of Gondolin in any degree). Maeglin still has his part, but he is now 'too late' to deliver the whereabouts of the city.

This actually hails back to the early Fall of Gondolin from The Book of Lost Tales in a way -- not exactly, but there Morgoth knew where the city was before capturing Maeglin.

Admittedly, perhaps there would be more to Maeglin's part in any detailed long prose version, for example. Maybe Maeglin did have important revelations concerning where the city was, important in that their detail was needed to truly find Gondolin, as the notes from WH are relatively brief in any case.

But I think it's possible, at least, considering the importance the Túrin-saga seemed to have for JRRT according to CJRT, that the notes are in reaction to a changed idea, in that Húrin gave Morgoth all he really needed (it is simpler at least, from a storial perspective) to attack Gondolin, with Maeglin forced to give help in other areas to buy his freedom.