Rings of Power talk!

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The Professor did indeed use inverted, and sometimes archaic sentence structures at times (one of the things I enjoy about his writing). In this case though, I don't think that's the explanation.
In the relevant passage, Gandalf is speaking to the Council of Elrond about the dispositions of the Rings of Power, not the effects on their wearers. So it appears that Gandalf indeed is saying the Nazgûl had possession of their Nine Rings.
Whether that was merely a slip by Tolkien is conjectural, but I think my Saruman explanation is at least possible.

Another even simpler explanation is that Gandalf was not infallible. Perhaps at the time, he believed the Nazgûl kept the Nine. The story, as we know in hindsight, is told through the literary deceit of Hobbitish retelling. It would be nigh impossible for Gandalf to know that Sauron kept the Nine. How would he know beyond a shadow of a doubt? How could it be proved? I don't believe Sauron advertised the fact, and the Nazgûl were certainly not chatty sorts either.

Of the three Gandalf had direct, personal knowledge, of the seven there was anecdotal evidence supporting the idea that Sauron had taken three back (one of these was certainly worn by Thrain II, imprisoned by the Necromancer/Sauron), but the other four were supposedly consumed by dragons.

To say that by inversion the sentence "The nine the Nazgûl keep" means anything other than it implies makes little sense, particularly since Gandalf is presenting his knowledge to the Council of Elrond, where such ambiguity would be counterintuitive. The inversion is for emphasis on the nine, as Gandalf relates the whereabouts of each ring. It is far more ominous using a heightened and alliterative "The nine the Nazgûl keep", than the modern "The Nazgûl keep the nine." There is poetic symmetry in the former and not in the latter.

If Gandalf knew at the time that Sauron held the nine, he would just say so, as he did with the the few of the seven the Dark Lord held.