If we saw the early days of the forsworn I might feel some sympathy for them. Now though, I wouldn't say they are completely evil but they are far from being good or even neutral.
While its a noble idea to fight to reclaim you're homeland, how it's done is another thing entirely, and in the case of the forsworn the end does not justify the means.
This ^
The Reachmen were once peaceful people. Then, the Nords left Markarth to go to to the Great War, and the Reachmen thought it was better than living in mountains, so they moved to the "deserted" Markarth. They grew up a culture, families...this is until the Nords came back from the war and slaugthered them. This information comes from the book called "The Bear of Markarth". ;)
I think they're bad, and I'll try to explain my rationale behind this. Reachman were persecuted for ruling over their own lands, basically, and as such they were unrightfully labelled criminals in their own hold. But their response goes to prove, to me anyways, that they are bad people. They take up the label, and embrace it, becoming murderers and bandits quite willingly. They don't enact organized attacks on their oppressors, they rather kill indiscriminately throughout the reach. The way the Nords took away their home was wrong, and while I always usually root for the underdog, the Reachman simply aren't good people. While the Nords weren't justified in stripping the Reachman's claim to the Reach, the Forsworn themselves have proven to me that they weren't justified in ruling over anything in the first place. They quite literally are a group of killers and thieves who justify their heinous actions through the semblance of resistance, or coup.
It is hard to distinguish those two because the Reachman of Skyrim became the Forsworn. There might be still some Reachmen in Western Reach in High Rock (should be on the other side of mountains).
You really have to look at them as two different groups. Forsworn are rebels and terrorists, but Reachmen on the other hand are not that different from Tribal Orcs.
I think that while the Aaron named this discussion "Reachmen" he really meant Forsworn. And you can´t really look at Forsworn as fine examples of their...race?tribe? Not sure here.
I have nothing against Reachmen. They seem to me just alright. Not that different from tribal Orcs, but what we´re really discussing here is radical group of Reachmen murdering everyone in sight.
The Nords are the reason of what the Reachmen are today. The Nords stole their lands twice and as if it wasn't enough, the Silver-Bloods forced them to do their bidding. And although I sympathize with the Reachmen, it doesn't mean I will spare their lives every time they try to kill me.