Active Users:332 Time:25/04/2025 01:54:00 PM
Estimating potential is exact, fragmentary historical notes are not. And RJ disproves your point.. Shannow Send a noteboard - 04/06/2010 02:57:32 PM
A female channeler can estimate the potential of another channeler very accurately.

This is a skill that is utilised in the Tower on a continuous basis, and taught to novices at a very early stage.

The reasons behind the loss of Traveling and the exact length of time since the last dreamwalker are misinterpreted and inaccurately remembered bits of historical information. Not a current skill which is highly refined, like estimating potential is.

I know you WANT Egwene to be close to Nynaeve in strength. But that is unfortunately not what the books tell us. And it is clearly not what RJ portrayed.

To quote RJ from memory (and please correct me if I use the term Wondergirls instead of Egwene or Elayne or Aviendha or whichever of those three he used in his quote):

"The Wondergirls are a step up in strength from modern Aes Sedai (feel free to insert the name of the specific Aes Sedai he may have mentioned - it might have been Moiraine), and the female Forsaken are another step up from them."

So that gives us a clear indication that RJ saw Ewgene to be sitting roughly halfway up the ladder between modern Aes Sedai at the bottom and the average female Forsaken at the top.

If we are interpreting RJ's "steps" as referring to absolute jumps in strength, then we can show quite easily that since Egwene is roughly twice as strong as a strong modern sister, that you can add another strong sister to Egwene's full potential to get to Nynaeve's strength.

That means that Nynaeve is as strong as 3 strong sisters, and 50% stronger than Egwene.

If, however, we see RJ's "steps" as proportional steps up, then it means that if Egwene is twice as strong as a strong sister, then Nynaeve is twice again as strong as Egwene (since the proportional gap represents a doubling of strength).

I tend to be conservative and lean towards the former - the absolute jump in strength. Which is the lower estimate of the two.

Which - to conclude - means that Egwene is two thirds as strong as Nynaeve, or put differently Nynaeve is 50% stronger than Egwene.

Egwene = 2 strong sisters
Nynaeve = 3 strong sisters.

Lanfear is significanlty stronger than that, and might come close to equaling 4 strong sisters, which would make her capable of at least standing up to Rand for a short period of time. This is necessary seeing as Rand is able to face 4 sisters quite easily, and Lanfear should theoretically be able to come close to matching him.

If you understood the books as well as those of us who have been reading and debating about them for over a decade, then you would see the bigger picture here.

This message last edited by Shannow on 04/06/2010 at 02:58:16 PM
Reply to message
Interesting clues to OP Strength difference between Nynaeve and Elayne/Egwene/Aviendha - 31/05/2010 02:17:06 PM 1214 Views
Re: Interesting clues to OP Strength difference between Nynaeve and Elayne/Egwene/Aviendha - 31/05/2010 04:18:08 PM 799 Views
I don't know. Elayne knows how strong a woman needs to be in order to activate the Bowl. - 31/05/2010 07:51:08 PM 681 Views
Egwene plus Aviendha roughly equal Lanfaer. And yet Lanfear isn't close to double Nynaeve's strength - 31/05/2010 09:07:06 PM 580 Views
Egwene and Aviendha combined in TFoH (when Avi had been channeling for only a few months) - 31/05/2010 09:22:17 PM 695 Views
We've done this so many times. Even I have lost the strength for it. What can I still muster... - 31/05/2010 09:38:24 PM 637 Views
again with the interpretive quoting - 31/05/2010 11:05:58 PM 674 Views
Individual interpretation is all we've got really - 01/06/2010 06:32:05 PM 618 Views
agreed, sort of - 04/06/2010 12:57:00 PM 623 Views
Consider this... - 04/06/2010 01:21:43 PM 597 Views
You continue to translate things. That is NOT how the quote reads - 04/06/2010 01:30:43 PM 389 Views
Not my fault if the books prove you wrong - 04/06/2010 01:41:00 PM 521 Views
I'm denying that you have a clue - 04/06/2010 01:51:14 PM 565 Views
Bonfire next to a candle. I rest my case. - 04/06/2010 01:53:59 PM 442 Views
then Nynaeve is the Creator - 04/06/2010 02:03:27 PM 555 Views
Estimating potential is exact, fragmentary historical notes are not. And RJ disproves your point.. - 04/06/2010 02:57:32 PM 656 Views
The books disagree with this - 04/06/2010 03:24:46 PM 488 Views
Right, NOW we're getting somewhere... - 04/06/2010 03:57:32 PM 601 Views
You are hilarious - 04/06/2010 04:06:37 PM 400 Views
Close the door on your way out... - 04/06/2010 04:21:11 PM 435 Views
Re: agreed, sort of - 04/06/2010 04:46:59 PM 1285 Views
Reminds me of some of our ancient debates... - 04/06/2010 05:03:05 PM 535 Views
this doesn't square in any way with Bell Curve though - 04/06/2010 10:33:04 PM 650 Views
Re: this doesn't square in any way with Bell Curve though - 04/06/2010 10:56:01 PM 545 Views
It's all good, I do respect your thoughts on this BTW - 04/06/2010 11:28:45 PM 500 Views
No, Rand was not stronger than the male Forsaken at the start of tSR... - 01/06/2010 09:27:47 AM 538 Views
Aginor burned out attempting to use the Eye, which Rand managed to do without burning out *NM* - 01/06/2010 12:06:01 PM 298 Views
The Eye was just a source of the Power - like a well, just bigger. - 01/06/2010 12:17:29 PM 562 Views
nope - 01/06/2010 12:52:46 PM 568 Views
You know that is not correct... - 01/06/2010 01:30:35 PM 598 Views
right or wrong it's in the text! - 01/06/2010 01:47:35 PM 672 Views
Remember gatways - 31/05/2010 09:15:31 PM 504 Views
I agree that it's probably some kind of max height you can lift an object - 31/05/2010 09:25:25 PM 483 Views
I think lifting people on flows of air is much like weaving bridges. - 01/06/2010 07:42:59 AM 645 Views
I think you are correct actually. - 01/06/2010 12:53:21 PM 680 Views
Yes. - 01/06/2010 08:43:33 PM 430 Views
My own thougth was off base! - 01/06/2010 12:54:19 PM 505 Views
I'm pretty convinced that 'strength' really refers to your skill and experience. - 01/06/2010 08:35:16 PM 596 Views
Strength is a touchy word in this case... - 03/06/2010 07:31:19 AM 574 Views
Re: Strength is a touchy word in this case... - 04/06/2010 04:52:33 PM 411 Views
I see effectiveness much the same - 05/06/2010 05:17:57 PM 719 Views

Reply to Message