Not an inconsistency and if you analyse it... - Edit 1
Before modification by Shannow at 27/01/2011 09:07:42 PM
...then it does not mitigate Nynaeve's strength advantage over Daigian at all.
There are sufficient unknowns to make the Rand/Logain comparison completely reasonable. And no matter how you look at it, it still does not change the Nynaeve/Daigian strength relationship.
You cannot talk away every bit of evidence that disproves your view as an inconsistency.
So far, the three most notable examples where you have done this, are the Nynaeve/Egwene bonfire vs candle comparison, Aviendha's comment that Egwene is close to twice as strong as Moiraine, and now the Daigian/Nynaeve strength comparison.
Let us in this post only focus on the Nynaeve/Daigian comparison.
Your issue is that Rand's shield was held by 4 women while Logain could possibly have broken free from 5 women.
You suggest that because this is inconsistent with Rand being stronger than Logain, it therefore is an unreliable quote and has to be discarded - like the other quotes that don't fit into your theory.
Well, before we just dismiss a quote out of hand to suit your views, let's first see if it can be accommodated within the evidence, and whether RJ may have known what he was writing about after all.
Point 1:
We don't know the comparative strengths or shielding talents of the two groups of Aes Sedai involved in shielding Rand and Logain respectively. It may well be that the 4 women shielding Rand were as strong as the 5 women shielding Logain.
Point 2:
We are told numerous times during the series - and in particular detail during FoH - that your ability to hold the One Power decreases at a roughly in step with the level of physical exhaustion/weakness you are subject to. Well, Rand is in a particularly weak state at the time that he tries to break free from the box. He has been tortured, dehydrated and physically weakened for a number of days, and is barely able to walk when he launches his bid for freedom.
Point 3:
Even in this weakened state, Rand is overly cautious, and does not want to launch his bid for freedom until he is assured of success. Hence, he does not even want to TRY to break free when the shield is down to 4 women, even though he might have succeeded.
Point 4:
Do we know for a fact that Rand IS indeed stronger than Logain at this point in time? A book later Sammael is still described as roughly equal to him. Rand is only compared to Logain in KoD, AFTER the Cleansing, which may have increased his strength significantly compared to his level in LoC, when the two shielding events took place.
Based on the above 4 points, it is easy to show that the quote can very easily fit with all the evidence we have.
But here's the beauty of it: Even if the women shielding Logain were weaker than those holding Rand, they would all STILL be MUCH stronger than Daigian, who is less than half as strong as an average Aes Sedai.
So it is pretty much guaranteed that the women shielding Logain would all have been between 1.5 and 2 times stronger than Dagian, AT THE LEAST.
Even if they only averaged 1.5 times Dagian's strength (making all five of them weaker than the average Aes Sedai, which is very unlikely) then 5 of them would STILL have equalled 7.5 Daigians. Meaning that roughly 8 Daigians would be a minimum level for Nynaeve's strength.
8 Daigians. Think about that for a moment.
If Nynaeve is 8 times as strong as Daigian, then we KNOW that she is 4 times stronger than the average Aes Sedai.
We ALSO know that Moiraine is about 3 times as strong as Daigian. Meaning that if Nynaeve is 8 times Daigian's strength, then she would be just under 3 times Moiraine's strength.
And here's the cherry on top. This is Nynaeve's strength as at Lord of Chaos. Which is still not her full strength, as we are told she is still not at her full potential a few books later than that!
The picture is pretty clear.
This fits with the Bonfire / Candle comparison and every other quote placing Nynaeve on a totally different level to Egwene.
This is evidence that really cannot be talked away, no matter how much you want it to be wrong.
There are sufficient unknowns to make the Rand/Logain comparison completely reasonable. And no matter how you look at it, it still does not change the Nynaeve/Daigian strength relationship.
You cannot talk away every bit of evidence that disproves your view as an inconsistency.
So far, the three most notable examples where you have done this, are the Nynaeve/Egwene bonfire vs candle comparison, Aviendha's comment that Egwene is close to twice as strong as Moiraine, and now the Daigian/Nynaeve strength comparison.
Let us in this post only focus on the Nynaeve/Daigian comparison.
Your issue is that Rand's shield was held by 4 women while Logain could possibly have broken free from 5 women.
You suggest that because this is inconsistent with Rand being stronger than Logain, it therefore is an unreliable quote and has to be discarded - like the other quotes that don't fit into your theory.
Well, before we just dismiss a quote out of hand to suit your views, let's first see if it can be accommodated within the evidence, and whether RJ may have known what he was writing about after all.
Point 1:
We don't know the comparative strengths or shielding talents of the two groups of Aes Sedai involved in shielding Rand and Logain respectively. It may well be that the 4 women shielding Rand were as strong as the 5 women shielding Logain.
Point 2:
We are told numerous times during the series - and in particular detail during FoH - that your ability to hold the One Power decreases at a roughly in step with the level of physical exhaustion/weakness you are subject to. Well, Rand is in a particularly weak state at the time that he tries to break free from the box. He has been tortured, dehydrated and physically weakened for a number of days, and is barely able to walk when he launches his bid for freedom.
Point 3:
Even in this weakened state, Rand is overly cautious, and does not want to launch his bid for freedom until he is assured of success. Hence, he does not even want to TRY to break free when the shield is down to 4 women, even though he might have succeeded.
Point 4:
Do we know for a fact that Rand IS indeed stronger than Logain at this point in time? A book later Sammael is still described as roughly equal to him. Rand is only compared to Logain in KoD, AFTER the Cleansing, which may have increased his strength significantly compared to his level in LoC, when the two shielding events took place.
Based on the above 4 points, it is easy to show that the quote can very easily fit with all the evidence we have.
But here's the beauty of it: Even if the women shielding Logain were weaker than those holding Rand, they would all STILL be MUCH stronger than Daigian, who is less than half as strong as an average Aes Sedai.
So it is pretty much guaranteed that the women shielding Logain would all have been between 1.5 and 2 times stronger than Dagian, AT THE LEAST.
Even if they only averaged 1.5 times Dagian's strength (making all five of them weaker than the average Aes Sedai, which is very unlikely) then 5 of them would STILL have equalled 7.5 Daigians. Meaning that roughly 8 Daigians would be a minimum level for Nynaeve's strength.
8 Daigians. Think about that for a moment.
If Nynaeve is 8 times as strong as Daigian, then we KNOW that she is 4 times stronger than the average Aes Sedai.
We ALSO know that Moiraine is about 3 times as strong as Daigian. Meaning that if Nynaeve is 8 times Daigian's strength, then she would be just under 3 times Moiraine's strength.
And here's the cherry on top. This is Nynaeve's strength as at Lord of Chaos. Which is still not her full strength, as we are told she is still not at her full potential a few books later than that!
The picture is pretty clear.
This fits with the Bonfire / Candle comparison and every other quote placing Nynaeve on a totally different level to Egwene.
This is evidence that really cannot be talked away, no matter how much you want it to be wrong.