Feanor got off too easy IMHO. He goes and leads his people into exile, and then goes and dies practically the moment he steps onto Beleriand. He didn't have to experience the suffering his people had to.
That's kinda the point of the character, yeah. He's a douche and he barely suffers from it (I mean, sure, dying sucks, but...) Dude would have had some serious issues if he had survived much longer what with the whole massacring his own people thing.
Beren, Tuor, Thingol are all better characters. Furthermore to suggest that Maedhros is better than Fingolfin, who is the best character in the book and one of the best in Tolkien's mythology is silly
I'll give you Fingolfin (I mean, I don't personally agree, since I think Fingolfin's too boring good guy for my tastes, but the man is certainly badass in a highly memorable way so I certainly respect the argument). But the others... zuh. Beren, really? The dude is like generic human hero to the max, and barely relevant to the story's overall narrative.
(and I barely remember the other two)
The whole moral dilemma surrounding the consequences of Feanor's oath is what drives the story, which pretty much makes Feanor and Maedhros auto-win the title of book's most interesting characters to me. Maedhros moreso because he has more time to reach an emotion besides rage.
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