Tolkien’s goblins come from two older books

 Commenter on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COmJ6224nxI

Mochaelkellyep… Says

Tolkien's said he lifted his goblins in "The Hobbit" directly from George MacDonald's goblins in "The Princess and the Goblin" and it's sequel "The Princess and Curdie". The idea that goblins make no beautiful things comes directly from the first book, in which MacDonald says, "As I have indicated already, the chief defence against [the goblins] was verse, for they hated verse of every kind, and some kinds they could not endure at all. I suspect they could not make any themselves, and that was why they disliked it so much. At all events, those who were most afraid of them were those who could neither make verses themselves, nor remember the verses that other people made for them; while those who were never afraid were those who could make verses for themselves; for although there were certain old rhymes which were very effectual, yet it was well known that a new rhyme, if of the right sort, was even more distasteful to them, and therefore more effectual in putting them to flight." And the soft feet of MacDonald's goblins also gets a nod by Tolkien when he says his goblins "slipped on soft shoes".