Tragic flaw of the Hurin family

[Mithadan]

What happened to Denethor mirrored what happened to Hurin in a small way. Denethor was a small piece of Sauron's game. He saw what Sauron showed him and was deceived. But it appears that the attention Sauron gave to Denethor, apparently limited to when the Palantir was used, was nothing compared to Morgoth's focus upon Hurin. Denethor was tricked, what he was shown drove him into a deep depression and caused him to lose his mind.

Morgoth did not undertake to influence or even kill Hurin, he chose to destroy him and his family. Hurin and his family were not merely shown images, whether false, exaggerated or subject to misinterpretation. They were the focal points of Morgoth's malice and influence, which, as I suggest above, was inexorable and beyond their ability to resist. At the end, Hurin was physically and emotionally a broken man, but he was not "perverted" as perhaps Saruman was. He did not, at least not intentionally, betray his old friends and allies. He did slay Mim (at least in some versions), which may have been wrongful though deserved. He was undeservedly scornful towards Thingol, at least until he was, to some extent, relieved from Morgoth's sway by Melian. But his disclosure of Gondolin's general location was not a knowing betrayal. Ultimately, his will was not broken.