what happened to the nine rings?

[Lachwen]

You know, I'd never actually thought about that? Hmm....

I think the Nine Rings self-destructed when the One was destroyed. After all, those Rings were so totally in the thrall of the One (and probably drew so much of their power from it) that the end of the One Ring meant the end of the Nine. I could be completely wrong, of course, but it wouldn't be the first time...

EDIT: post number 42!! This is the Ultimate Post!

[Boromir88]

It was said Dragon fire could destroy the rings of power, so if the rings of power (9 and 3 of the 7) didn't have Mount Doom lava flow over them I would imagine they would still be there. The 9 and 3 dwarven would be useless but not destroyed. As we see in The Grey Havens, the 3 elven-rings are now "worn openly" since they all lost there power, in the destruction of the one ring. They weren't destroyed or didn't blow up, they just lost power.

[Amrod the Hunter]

Definetly a good question.
If they weren't they destroyed with the fall of The One,I think they lost all of their power,so that is why Nazguls also dissapeared-there was nothing left to hold them in this world so they just banished.
Or that's what I think...

[gorthaur_cruel]

The Nine were destroyed after the One was. And it was Sauron who held them.

I read in The Council of Elrond today a part that changes my mind. Gandalf says, in regards to the Rings, that the seven are taken or destroyed. The Three are known. The Nine the Nazgul keep. So that changes that. I suppose they lost all their power and either feel to the earth below, or were destroyed.

Indeed, this is the biggest evidence that the Nazguls keep the Nine. But there is far much more evidence that Sauron holds them. Here are a few(emphasises mine):

Originally Posted by Letters #246

... Sauron, who still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control...

Originally Posted by Unfinished Tales

...mightiest servants, the Ring-wraiths, who had no will but his own, being each utterly subservient to the ring that had enslaved him, which Sauron held

Originally Posted by Unfinished Tales

...were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which [Sauron] now himself held

Originally Posted by The Lord of the Rings

...the Nine [Sauron] has gathered to himself; the Seven also, or else they are destroyed

Originally Posted by The Lord of the Rings

You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine

These evidences suggest that Sauron held the Ring. And the evidence that they are destroyed comes from the Silmarillion:

And so indeed it has since befallen: The One and the Seven and the Nine are destroyed, and the Three have passed away.

[rutslegolas]

Indeed your assumptions could be right , but I think the Dark Lord did not hold the nine . The phrase " he held the nine " can also be deciphered as that he had control over the nine rings , and the nazgul wore them so he also had control over the ringwraiths .

But indeed I have come to realise that after the One Ring is destroyed the nine would be also destroyed .

[Boromir88]

I don't see how you could also interpret the quotes as Sauron held control over the ringwraiths. Each quote talks about holding the nine rings. It's specific, now if they said "Sauron held the nine" or "he controlled the nine." Then I can see interpreting it as either the rings or the ringwraiths. But none of them do, each quote specifically talks about the nine rings; not the ringwraiths.

[gorthaur_cruel]

The last two Nine Ring quotes could be interpreted the way you said, rutslegolas, but I don't think the first two or three quotes can. They pretty much say that Sauron held the Nine Rings. It would also make more sense...how else would Sauron hold power over the Ringwraiths when he lost the Ring that gives him the power to control them?