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Originally Posted by Tar-Ancalime
All of which brings up another interesting conjecture--by sending out his own hand-picked Company of Nine against the other Nine, is Elrond setting himself up as the symbolic enemy of Sauron? It's not too implausible--he's one of only a few First-Agers still around at this point in the story, he's a Ring-Bearer, he's certainly the master of one of the more powerful realms remaining in the world. And at least temporarily, the Ring is in his house, not Sauron's.
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But why does Sauron choose
Nine chief servants?
Speculation: there were originally
Nine chief Valar including Melkor, before he was cast out, so maybe Sauron was setting himself up as a symbolic rival to Eru?
Of course, nine is three times three, & we all know how many times three crops up in the Legendarium - 3 silmarils, 3 elven rings, 3 branches of the High Elves, of the hobbits, of the Edain, 3 ages, 3 continents - Middle earth, Numenor & Aman, 3 kinds of men according to Faramir - high, middle & low, the three farthing stone, 3 kinds of pipe weed......etc, etc, etc. I won't go on, but its clear that 3 is the most symbolic number in Middle earth by a long way, & maybe this is significant in Eru's creation of
Nine supreme powers - a 'trinity of trinities'