Feanor's Sons

[Maédhros]

It was, after all, Maedhros who persuaded Maglor to steal the Silmarils from the Valar.

Remember that Maedhros had taken an oath, and he had to follow it. Something that always stuck with me when I read the Published Silmarillion, is that the Ñoldorian princes, whenever they gave their words, they always followed them to the end. (Ex. Sons of Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finrod), and that they didn't lie. I think that if the great Maedhros would have not followed his oath, he would have lost his honor.
As mentioned by the phantom, Maedhros was the best of the sons of Fëanor IMO.
I don't see Caranthir as a freakish elf, I just see him as someone being very very harsh, in a way, very unelf-like.