Let's look at the Forsaken and how they died...

Balthamel was one of those rare cases where we don't know if he was unlucky or incompetent because we didn't know what was happening from his opinion, and everyone around him knew squat about channeling. How could a Forsaken level channeler land up getting killed by a Nym? A man like Balthamel could blow the tree up, and even a simple barrier of Air would have done the job of keeping him safe. That said, we don't know how 'old' Balthamel was. Maybe he couldn't see properly, and maybe he felt so weak that he could hardly channel. Either way, this is one of those rather ridiculous deaths which will remain mysterious.

Aginor was incompetent. Like Forsaken to come, he decided to toy with his food. He taunted Rand, and played around with Moiraine and her friends. When Rand eventually went after the Eye, Aginor burnt himself out and died - something a novice would do. He had to know that he couldn't reach beyond his potential. The fool.

Ishamael was probably incompetent. He spent most of the early part of the series trying to turn Rand to the Shadow using slavery and submission as 'gifts' for turning. Talk about a brilliant tactic. He chose to fight with a staff despite being the strongest channeler in the world. He confronted Rand when he was an inch from Callandor, the sa'angreal that ultimately destroyed him. His channeling was cool and impressive, but he choose a poor battle ground, and often arrived at a fight poorly prepared and drowning in arrogance.

Be'lal was unlucky. It is true that he also taunted Rand while he was in arms length of Callandor. The difference is that this was the plan and that Be'lal was almost certainly ready for the moment Rand lowered the wards on the sword. It was pure bad luck that Moiraine arrived, though Ishamael would probably have zapped both Be'lal and Rand if they'd succeeded.

Asmodean was very unlucky. At the moment he decides to skim to Rhuidean, he is discovered and Rand goes after him. He sets all sorts of wierd and fun traps and even gets the Choedan Kal. It's extremely bad luck once again that Rand reached it at the exact same time AND had a male angreal to push him slightly to the top. He was betrayed by Lanfear more than anything else, though he was very foolish to get lured by her into some sort of plan.

Lanfear was highly incompetent. She initiated a duel with Rand at the docks in open view of hundreds of people. She's lucky she didn't die instantly. She didn't kill any of the main characters and dismissed them, and focussed on prolonging Rand's suffering rather than killing him immediately. She paid no attention to her surroundings and wasn't even defeated by channeling.

Rahvin was incompetent. He sat on his throne while he knew that Rand was invading. He thought Rand would play into his little maze and traps which is a huge assumption. He skipped through to TAR where he did use some skill to defeat Rand, and was ultimately stabbed in the back by Nynaeve.

Sammael was very unlucky. He warded Ilian perfectly and then ran to a battlefield of his choosing. He was betrayed by Moridin, and was unlucky enough to have mashadar descend on him from the top. Perhaps it was incompetent to fight in SL, but then he knew that Rand would have suffered the same fate.

Osan'gar was incompetent. Tried to balefire Rand and was seen, and died.

Graendal... we'll see what was happening in the next book.

Semirhage was incompetent. She spent time torturing Rand and gave into her sadistic flaws. A predictible turn of events for her. Of course, her incompetence started a whole book earlier when she brought a few damane to challenge the single biggest group of mega-channelers in the world. Semirhage could literally have Travelled with Rand after she caught him, or even escaped immediately, yet she made her intent clear and was even planning to go after Cadsuane and friends later in that scene.

Thoughts?