Hurin and despair

[Kuruharan]

... victory is victory, however small, nor is its worth only in what follow from it. But it is expedient also; for if you do nothing to halt him, all Beleriand will fall beneath his shadow before many years are passed, and then one by one he will smoke you out of your earths. And what then? A pitiable remnant will fly south and west, to cower on the shores of the Sea, caught between Morgoth and Ossë. Better then to win a time of glory, though it be shortlived; for the end will be no worse.

As I already said before, those were not real victories that Turin was winning. They were bait, no more no less. Victory is not always really victory if it is being deliberately used to lure you on to disastrous defeat.

And as I also already said, Turin's speech was exaggerated. The Elves of Nargothrond were not "doing nothing" against Morgoth. They had fairly realistically assessed their chances and followed the course that offered them the best chance of holding out longest, until Turin arrived. Their mode of fighting was not suited to Turin's proud disposition and he persuaded them to change it.

There cannot be much more to it because a logical assessment of the situation says...

Nargothrond could not win in open warfare with Angband. This, then, is how Angband would prefer to fight.

If Nargothrond wants to fight Angband it would do best to adopt a style that Angband does not expect and does not desire.

Finrod, being a smart Elf, thought this out (with a little help from Ulmo no doubt) and adopted the guerrilla strategy.

Turin, being a not-as-bright human, either didn't recognize or ignored the realities of the situation. He wanted to fight in the way that he wanted to fight, and that was that.

So, I don't think that Turin's strategy was particularly fair or reasonable. He had enough information at hand to know that his way would not last long, if only he had cared to take a look at it.

When the overwhelming force was unleashed by Morgoth, that was the result of Turin's policy. There was nothing that could save them then. Turin had chosen to play that game, and Nargothrond had to pay the price for it.

*Ahem-Cough* Anyway...

Surely, Morwen, if they were required to make the right decisions in order to escape the curse of Morgoth, then that in itself is a restriction on their free will.

Why would that be any greater restriction on free will than you have to do a certain thing in order to be doing the right thing?