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Itt seems to me that (within Middle earth at least) evil does not have a seperate existence in its own right. Evil is the ultimate perversion of Good, perhaps the ultimate absence of Good but it isn't some 'thing' which exists in its own right. I'm struggling to get my point across,
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Davem, maybe I can help you out a bit,
. There's what are called
concrete nouns, and
abstract nouns. Concrete nouns- things that appeal to our senses, things that we can see, touch, hear, for instance a table, a dog barking, coffee...etc. Abstract nouns- or abstract ideas, things that can't be measured. Often these are emotions, love, fear, nervous, or could be things like power, wealth. I can't go to the store and say, jee, I'm down in the dumps today I think I'll get a gallon of happiness.
Look at the some of the classified evil characters from LOTR, Saruman and Sauron. Both, desire abstract ideas, they want power, world domination, money, greedy. So first off, abstract nouns lead to "evil," but since they are abstract, things that we can't touch, see, hear, they are our emotions, are desires, and are immeasurable. In essence it's not even there. How much power do I have? I don't know, just power. Seeing that these abstract ideas are often a cause of evil, then maybe that helps your point. That evil is nothing. Just an absence of good.