Well, technically that quote doesn't deny Mesaanas stature. - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 20/11/2010 01:06:49 PM
ToM (Wounds) - 'This is not about me. Egwene al'Vere is a child. But the Amyrlin is not. I may be young, but the Seat in ancient... This place is what a person is. The Amyrlin is the White Tower, and the White Tower will not bend. It defies you, Mesaana, and your lies.'
This is absolute nonsense IMO. It's fair enough to say that what a person is determines their power in TAR, but the comparison is hugely flawed. The Amyrlin Seat is not more ancient or greater than the Forsaken (except for moral superiority, which TAR does not care about from the evidence we have). The Forsaken are much older than the Amyrlin Seat and are, even if falsely, legendary. Their legendary status is actually what gives them power here, and it is obvious as Egwene flees as soon as she senses Mesaana is in the room. She is afraid to face anything that is called 'Forsaken' because of the implications. Even the Wise Ones look pensive and restrained when Egwene says that she is facing one of the 'Shadowsouled'. Egwene actually defeats Mesaana by convincing her subconscious that Mesaana is not as great as she is, but the underlying theory that she puts forward is untrue. The Amyrlin Seat cannot match the Forsaken in terms of presence - indeed, the Forsaken are some of the oldest legends of the third Age, no matter how erroneously they were made.
It only asserts that the Amyrlin Seat is not a child. If we consider "the Tel'aran'rhiod version of the Amyrlin" Egwene states a truism: The Amyrlin, as an office, carries the weight of three thousand years worth of rather imposing women. Perhaps (probably) not on the level of the Forsaken, but nothing to trifle with unless you want to go home with your head in a sack. Mesaana expects to simply sweep Egwene aside as an annoyance (if that) and Egwene makes clear that means she's SEVERELY underestimated her opposition, which might have a lot to do with why she lost (I'd add that to my list of Great Themes in TWoT if it didn't seem so trite and obvious; we've certainly seen the Forsaken demonstrate it often enough).