Skill, Dexterity and Strength can make you very powerful and are very dangerous when combined
RugbyPlayingAshaman Send a noteboard - 16/09/2010 02:32:22 PM
This is why despite the overall advantage in sheer amounts of Power a man can channel compared to a woman, the strongest males are balanced against the strongest females.
Think about it this way - most fights to the death are not about a head to head battle; the days of wielding clubs and wailing at each other died out a long time ago (even then, the victory most likely went to the person who was faster and able to deliver a stunning or lethal below first). In a fight to the death, in real life, it is often about the personal motivations, tenacity and personal lethality more so than sheer brawn. This is why most of the superior martial artists and warriors are often short, of average build and/or often unassuming. Alexander the Great, for example, was about average in height for his time, Lozen the Apache was the superior fighter compared to her brother Victorio who was the better leader and tactician, and etc.
Many of the Forsaken that are counted among the most dangerous have all three attributes in some combination, while the weaker ones whose presence in the upper ranks fluctuated back in the heyday of the War of Shadow only have one or two of the three attributes. Keep in mind that some of the most powerful weren't considered the most dangerous, so Graendal and Semirhage are considered much more dangerous than Balthamel or Aginor despite the likelihood that Aginor could channel more of the Power than both women if they stood against him individually, and the likelihood that both women were a little stronger in the Power if not close to being a match for Balthamel (we don't have a clear indication of his overall strength - all we know is that his intelligence was somewhat lacking in comparison to the elite Forsaken).
There are enough hints (and quite a few confirmations)in the series that there are techniques that the Age of Legends channelers don't know and other hints that there are greater abilities that exceed the ones they do - especially regarding using your connection to the Source to escape a Shield, manipulation of weave matrixes and etc, that dexterity can be seen as a catchall for any demonstration of innate understanding of how channeling works applied to the real world.
We don't know how skillfully Talaan wove her Shield, but we do know that her Strength was close to Nynaeves' and that what she did was manipulate how she controlled the weave so that it took advantage of fighting in three-dimensions to neutralize Nynaeve who had fallen into the same trap Moghedien had in their second match - she had gotten used to just standing in one place and throwing all of her strength at someone or something that she forgot that you could move your body or your weave to fight. I would count this as her dexterity.
Think about it this way - most fights to the death are not about a head to head battle; the days of wielding clubs and wailing at each other died out a long time ago (even then, the victory most likely went to the person who was faster and able to deliver a stunning or lethal below first). In a fight to the death, in real life, it is often about the personal motivations, tenacity and personal lethality more so than sheer brawn. This is why most of the superior martial artists and warriors are often short, of average build and/or often unassuming. Alexander the Great, for example, was about average in height for his time, Lozen the Apache was the superior fighter compared to her brother Victorio who was the better leader and tactician, and etc.
Many of the Forsaken that are counted among the most dangerous have all three attributes in some combination, while the weaker ones whose presence in the upper ranks fluctuated back in the heyday of the War of Shadow only have one or two of the three attributes. Keep in mind that some of the most powerful weren't considered the most dangerous, so Graendal and Semirhage are considered much more dangerous than Balthamel or Aginor despite the likelihood that Aginor could channel more of the Power than both women if they stood against him individually, and the likelihood that both women were a little stronger in the Power if not close to being a match for Balthamel (we don't have a clear indication of his overall strength - all we know is that his intelligence was somewhat lacking in comparison to the elite Forsaken).
There are enough hints (and quite a few confirmations)in the series that there are techniques that the Age of Legends channelers don't know and other hints that there are greater abilities that exceed the ones they do - especially regarding using your connection to the Source to escape a Shield, manipulation of weave matrixes and etc, that dexterity can be seen as a catchall for any demonstration of innate understanding of how channeling works applied to the real world.
We don't know how skillfully Talaan wove her Shield, but we do know that her Strength was close to Nynaeves' and that what she did was manipulate how she controlled the weave so that it took advantage of fighting in three-dimensions to neutralize Nynaeve who had fallen into the same trap Moghedien had in their second match - she had gotten used to just standing in one place and throwing all of her strength at someone or something that she forgot that you could move your body or your weave to fight. I would count this as her dexterity.
"Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
This message last edited by RugbyPlayingAshaman on 16/09/2010 at 02:47:05 PM
Strength in the Power VS. Skill in the Power
16/09/2010 12:03:56 AM
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I disagree. I think there a examples where dexterity is stressed more.
16/09/2010 12:53:30 AM
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Im thinking more about head to head weaves.
16/09/2010 01:11:04 AM
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Some of this happened during Rand's fight with Asmodean and Rahvin
16/09/2010 02:45:16 PM
- 563 Views
Strength and Skill are two primary attributes of any good channeler
16/09/2010 05:09:07 AM
- 621 Views
Skill, Dexterity and Strength can make you very powerful and are very dangerous when combined
16/09/2010 02:32:22 PM
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Re: Skill, Dexterity and Strength can make you very powerful and are very dangerous when combined
16/09/2010 05:22:01 PM
- 538 Views
Yes, I agree. I can't believe I didn't mention that one (corrected spelling)
16/09/2010 06:55:27 PM
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