Content Warning: The source material features depictions of violence, unintended incest, and of death by suicide during a period of grief.

The conflict in The Children of Húrin represents the struggle between fate and free will, probing whether humans are destined to suffer predetermined outcomes or are free to decide the direction of their lives. As a form of torture and retribution, Morgoth, who styles himself “Master of the fates of Arda” (65), curses Húrin’s family to a lifetime of ruin and suffering, which he allows Húrin to see through Morgoth’s eyes. This curse becomes the dominant form of fate within the novel, though there are hints of other kinds of determinism as well (e.g., Túrin’s inherited tendency toward pride).

While Morgoth implies that there is no escape from the curse, the narrative presents each of its protagonists actively working to elude their destiny. Túrin, for instance, is forced to leave his home in Dor-lómin for fear of his death at the Orcs’ or the Easterlings’ hands. Had he or his mother been resigned to the fate that Morgoth designed for them, they would not have exerted the effort to ensure Túrin’s protection.