Silmarillion - Chapter 23 - Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin

[Aiwendil]

Sorry for the double post, but I just wanted to expand a bit on Estelyn's excellent point:

I can't help but compare the fate of Tuor with that of Túrin - it would seem that Tuor is blessed whereas Túrin was cursed.

Indeed, the stories of Turin and of Tuor mirror each other in many ways, and I think each story provides some insight into the other.

To begin with, Turin and Tuor are of course cousins, each the son of a heroic warrior who fought in the Nirnaeth. Each has had a destiny of some kind prescribed for him by a Vala - by Morgoth in Turin's case and by Ulmo in Tuor's (the interesting questions about fate vs. free will that arise in Turin's saga are applicable also to Tuor's, though less often discussed). Each is, as a child, delivered by his mother into the care of a Grey Elf (Thingol and Annael, respectively). Each wishes to take up arms against the forces of Morgoth; but while Thingol allows Turin to do this, Annael forbids Tuor. Like Turin, Tuor then spends some time as an outlaw. Turin befriends Gwindor, who leads him to the hidden Noldorin kingdom of Nargothrond; likewise, Tuor meets Voronwe who leads him to the hidden kingdom of Gondolin. Notice also that Gwindor meets Turin soon after escaping from Angband, the realm of Morgoth; likewise Voronwe meets Tuor after having been lost for years at sea - in other words, in the realm of Ulmo.

Each of the cousins then becomes a respected leader and counselor to the king in his respective Elvish city. In fact, there is an additional parallel here that did not survive into the published Silmarillion. Turin, of course, counsels Orodreth to abandon his secrecy and go openly to war against Morgoth. In the pre-LotR versions of the story, Tuor (at the command of Ulmo) similarly urges Turgon to go forth to war. Each is opposed in their counsel by another important figure in the city (Gwindor and Maeglin, respectively), who also happens to be a rival of sorts for the affections of the king's daughter. And of course, each of the hidden kingdoms is eventually attacked and destroyed.

One could argue that throughout the story, Tuor makes the right decisions where Turin made the wrong ones. But then, as Esty points out, Tuor was blessed whereas Turin was cursed; after all, neither of them escaped his fate - though, of course, Tuor's fate was happy whereas Turin's was not.