None was evil. They did some rather evil things, enough to no longer make them able to touch a Silmaril, but that's not the same as being really evil. Without the Sons of Feanor, no Siege of Angband (or rather, a much weaker one) and no Union of Maedhros, although their deeds were also the cause for the Union's failure, so there's some good to outweigh their evil to a little extent, too.
But all of them were part of each Kinslaying (well, all who were alive at the respective point), so you can make no argument to spare any of his guilt
Maedhros is less guilty because he didn't take part in the Burning of the Ships. He receives most of the glory for the positive deeds of the sons, because he commanded them. He was also, on the side of his House, responsible for the reconciliation between the Noldor. But he also effectively commanded the second two Kinslayings. He regretted the things done to Dior's sons.
Most of the time
Maglor is of like mind with Maedhros. Only at the very end he becomes more moderate and the one most easy to empathize with. His deeds were not less evil than Maedhros' just because he didn't command them.
Counting on their guilt,
Celegorm and
Curufin additionally have the whole Nargothrond thing against them, and
Celegorm had a central part in the attack on Doriath.
Caranthir is often grouped with the other two Cs, sometimes unjustly. The attitude he displays towards Angrod doesn't make him likeable, and we are not told of any regret, but in the end, he did not commit any more evil than Maglor.
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Originally Posted by Maedhros
Or, was it the oath?
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Without the oath, I very highly doubt any of them would have become any evil. Each had their personal strength and weaknesses of character, of course, but so did their cousins, for example. An interesting topic to discuss and speculate maybe: how would Fingolfin's and Finarfin's sons and daughters have acted if they had somehow been made to swear the oath?
I feel like linking to a rather old thread of mine, which touches the subject:
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=12814
Nice thread, and welcome to the Downs,
Maedhros.
