I was wondering what everyone here thinks of the Forsworn. At first glance they appears as nothing more than a organized group of bandits. But after doing some quest in Markarth, my opinion about them started to change. During the quest the Forsworn Conspiracy you learn that people have been murdered by Forsworn agents. At the end of the quest we get to talk to Madonach who says something about how Thonar Silver blood was forcing Madonach to use the forsworn to strike at his enemies and protect his allies. This lends me to believe that the Silver-Bloods are behind all the murders and caravan attacks and the Forsworn are just people fighting for their land who are being manipulated by the Silver-Bloods. So are the Forsworn the good guys, or just as evil as the silver-bloods?

They're all pretty much jerks.

The Forsworn are basically being forced under duress to do the Silver-Bloods' dirty work, so you can think of them as the underdogs, but they are still bad guys. Thanor Silver-Blood uses the Forsworn hatred of Nords as a cover for the murders he has them do, but the hatred is still real (which is why it makes a good cover). Madanach would be doing his best to kill Nords whether Thanor coerced him to or not.