The curse of Morgoth in CoH.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by skip spence

In fact, if we believe what is written in MR, Melkor isn't just a renegade Vala, doing what is evil; he is evil itself, and the rote cause of everything that is wrong with the world . Without his discord during the creation of Arda there wouldn't be any evil deeds whatsoever, and the whole of ME would have remained a blissful paradise, akin to the garden of Eden.

Tom Shippey, in "Author of the Century", pointed out that Tolkien was very careful to keep evil in Middle Earth in a balance of seeming opposites. The two poles are called "Manichaean" and "Boethian". In Manichaeen, evil is considered equal to good, whereas in Boethian, Good is considered to be the ALL, and evil is merely its negative. I think Shippey was right that Tolkien was careful to keep these two poles in balance.

So to say that Melkor was evil itself, would be too Manichaean. Besides, I don't think striking a balance between these two really messes up your thinking here.