Íluvatar's opponents?

[aragornreborn]

But that isn't really free will. If Eru says to his creations: "OK, you can have free will, but if you exercise it wrongly, then I'm going to stop you" then in reality, they do not have an unfettered free will.

So, in the act of creation, Eru was like a parent, imbuing his creations, which at that time had no free will, with certain values. When creation was complete, he gave his creations free will. He could no longer directly influence them. It was up to them whether they adhered to the values he had instilled in them or rebelled against those values. He could only guide them ,as a parent of an adult, for example through the Istari.

I do not believe that Eru stops his creations from exercising their free will all the time or even often, or even at all as you see later (I, too, am discovering things as I post). To get back to my parent illustration (one of my few instances of semi-intelligence), one of the best ways a parent can instruct his child is to let the child learn from experience. Sometimes, however, the parent wants to keep a child from making an incredibly bad mistake, so the parent may intervene. So, Eru may fetter free-will, at times. I don't know. But, (I'm liking this theory better)Perhaps the confusion lies in the meaning of free-will. Free-will is just what it sounds like free-will. That is, Eru's creations have the power to make their own decisions (will), but that does not mean that Eru will allow those decisions to affect His plan. He can allow his creations to make their own decisions, but then use his divine power to fix their mistakes. If Eru's creations were allowed complete free-will where Eru was not allowed to intervene, then Eru would no longer be omnipotent or the one in charge. So, perhaps Eru does not fetter free-will, but he just might clean up a few mistakes here and there. Yes, I do like that theory much better. Gollum takes ring (bad choice. free-will). I suppose Eru could have caused Gollum to not take it in the first place, but that would have violated Gollum's free will. Instead, Eru used his power to set things right in the end because Gollum met his doom and got rid of the ring, anyway. Also, I believe that Eru's creations are stil Eru's children. They are still referred to as the Children of Illuvatar, I believe.