IMO the bell curve thing is the most pathetic thing I've ever read. I mean that as no disrespect to posters who have shaped their ideas around it, especially considering the author condoned the notion. Still, it either means that Rj doesn't know statistics or he did the worst job in the world showing it.

Bell curve lists look great on paper but they can't stand up to even the simplest scrutiny if you look at the series.

The fact that Rand can snap two Aes Sedai's connections to saidar like twigs implies that he is radically more powerful than two women of their power, both of whom can Travel. And how is Egwene stronger than Amys and Melaine then? How could the Forsaken face such large circles at the Cleansing?

There are huge gaps in the strengths of the Aes Sedai and yet the Forsaken judge their relative power with increments of 1%! That makes absolutely no sense.

I'm never getting into a bell curve debate again because I think it sucks more than all things sucky on this board. But I'm amazed that no one concedes how utterly incompatable the series is with a traditional bell curve.