Meaning of noun + の赴くままに

Question

In an anime I was watching there is this line:

力の赴くままに暴力をふるっていただけだったのだろうか

As context, the character was fighting alongside a friend/romantic interest: while the friend was focusing on defending a poaching boat, the speaker was focusing on fighting the enemy, because poachers doesn't deserve to be protected. In the end, the friend was hurt.

In her past, the speaker worried about being too focused on violence in kendo, which clearly reflects in this scene.

I was wondering about the meaning of の赴くままに: I didn't find any grammar pages about this, and nothing on my grammars, but I know 赴く means "to proceed according to", and I found an example of の赴くままに, from which I read N + の赴くままに means "according to N, following N"; with this reading, the quote would mean "Was I just acting violently, following my strenght/power?" (lit., "Was I just exhibiting/exercising violence").

Is this right? Can I take N + の赴くままに as a set expression meaning "following (my) N; according to (my) N"?

Answer 1

You can take it as a set phrase. Note, however, that what you follow is an emotion, an instinct, or something that drives you from within yourself, and also that you follow it without thinking much, like you let whatever is indicated by the noun determine your course of action. You cannot use it for things like a schedule even if they belong to you.