Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-27912807-20170428183448/@comment-26172435-20170430092110

I think Melkor was only able to create a living breed of sentient creatures that would abide to him, if he could get hold of the fëa Ilúvatar used for all his children. I don't believe he was able to just corrupt the elves and make them into beings that would abide him. That would have required him to master the fëa, and going along the lines of thought of Tolkiens Legendarium, that would have been a power reserved to Ilúvatar only. Hence, I don't think the first goblins were corrupted elves, dwarves or men. Instead, they were creatures of his own making that he has somehow managed to grant fëa he has acquired through corruption of captured Children of Ilúvatar.

I think it really is not unlikely Melkor could have at least been inspired by Aulë's secret works and designed similar beings to Aulë's example, either through copying them (he was ruling most of Arda when the dwarven fathers were still asleep where Aulë left them, or he might even have known of their existence before Ilúvatar found out), or through molding a similar, but obviously more sinister design based on Aulë's example. Alternatively he could also have created a design on his own without knowing of Aulë's creation (and Ilúvatars interference), but given the similarities I tend to favour the 'sneaky-copy reading'. Either way, Melkor must have awaited the awakening of the Children of Ilúvatar to be able to harness the fëa Ilúvatar gave them. As his goblins came alive before the coming of the Hildor, and Melkor was clearly reported to have abducted elves and corrupted them, he will most likely have used the fëa of these elves for his breed. Later on, he managed to cross-breed his sentient creations with other children of Ilúvatar and kelvar of either his own or Yavanna's making.