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Nah. Beyond the realm of possibility. Sorry, Shannow Send a noteboard - 13/12/2011 05:12:40 PM
An alternative could be that even if the gaps are large, strength does not mean that much. Kind of like height - there are reasons why it might indicate superiority in a fight, and is readily measurable, but the reason why men might generally be able to win a fight against a woman are not really about their being taller.


I am leaning more towards this, and have been of this opinion for the last few books. There is a metaphysical aspect to saidin and saidar which get ignored when we are trying to quantify strength levels. We are told strength is related to your soul, yet we never considered that your soul's relative importance to the Pattern might determine your strength. After all, how would you rank this? When Rand channeled hundreds of weaves in "Towers of Midnight", was this because he is the Dragon Reborn or because he has realized something about the One Power on an intuitive level that no one else has?

Perhaps women are generally "weaker" because they are so used to being in a female body that is 'weaker' physically than most male bodies, that this affects the expressions of their soul. If the One Power is a form of energy that allows for reality alteration, then your belief might express how much of the Power your soul can filter through your body before physical destruction.

Perhaps Ishamael is a match for Lews Therin because he believes so strongly that he was destined to be a match, that his soul can handle more Power than he was initially thought to be capable of, even without the True Power. It could also explain why Lanfear can be claimed to be second only to Ishamael according to the legends; when we get her POV, she focuses on being the strongest woman in the world that she might be holding herself back from being the strongest channeler in the world. She was driven both by egotism and an inferiority complex to drill the bore and date Lews Therin. Moghedien's inferiority complex and preference to work from the Shadows may drive her lesser channeling power, but when push came to shove, she used the Power to do something in T'A'R that no one thought possible - if it came down to her physical survival with her back against the wall, no holds barred, she may be capable of matching a "stronger" Forsaken because that's how her mind/soul works.

Just conjecture at this point, but it would account for Plot armor and etc.


Tel aran riod is about strength of will and belief. The Power is about an innate talent, linked to the body and soul.

In fact, Jordan once said that: "To an observer, flows appear to be originating from the physical body of a channeler, which is one reason why men are able to channel more of the Power than women."

This strongly suggests that body size/density/volume or some such aspect plays a role, in combination with the soul, to determine the volume of Power an individual can channel.
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Underestimating Forsaken strength - 11/12/2011 05:57:22 AM 1941 Views
Ah, my favourite topic makes a return... - 11/12/2011 07:45:29 AM 847 Views
Re: Ah, my favourite topic makes a return... - 11/12/2011 10:25:03 PM 840 Views
Yes, you are probably correct - 12/12/2011 06:26:07 AM 963 Views
Re: and some of the information given to us is flawed - 12/12/2011 07:38:59 PM 774 Views
The real question is - What percentage of her full strength did Nynaeve achieve by Book 4? - 12/12/2011 08:31:30 PM 802 Views
I find that unlikely - 12/12/2011 09:28:07 PM 769 Views
Easy question for you: Based on the evidence, what percentage of her strength was Nynaeve at in tSR? - 13/12/2011 07:09:56 AM 770 Views
Well.... - 13/12/2011 01:12:48 PM 802 Views
Well there we have it - 13/12/2011 01:36:45 PM 810 Views
Re: Well there we have it - 13/12/2011 02:06:14 PM 843 Views
Re: Well there we have it - 13/12/2011 02:12:10 PM 780 Views
Alivia may not even be stronger than Nynaeve... - 14/12/2011 03:14:06 AM 857 Views
That wouldn't surprise me actually *NM* - 14/12/2011 07:46:47 AM 433 Views
Where would you place Egwene though? - 14/12/2011 09:13:46 AM 767 Views
Re: Where would you place Egwene though? - 14/12/2011 12:53:49 PM 735 Views
Bonfire next to a candle indeed. Hehehe... - 14/12/2011 05:50:34 PM 915 Views
- 14/12/2011 06:56:40 PM 710 Views
The same "step" you refer to seperates Egwene from normal Aes Sedai according to RJ... - 14/12/2011 07:14:55 PM 733 Views
Yes! And...? - 15/12/2011 02:53:37 AM 757 Views
Yes I would agree with that - 14/12/2011 08:24:35 PM 895 Views
Alivia with an angreal > > > Cyndane - 14/12/2011 08:50:41 PM 685 Views
No - 14/12/2011 09:10:34 PM 772 Views
That makes no sense. - 14/12/2011 09:13:48 PM 837 Views
Correct. - 14/12/2011 09:43:53 PM 766 Views
Re: Correct. - 15/12/2011 05:54:37 AM 765 Views
So many instances of logical laziness in that post... - 14/12/2011 10:01:45 PM 1208 Views
Re: So many instances of logical laziness in that post... - 15/12/2011 06:16:01 AM 705 Views
Only slight diffence I have is regarding general AS strength - 30/12/2011 04:45:49 PM 774 Views
I think it was just Aes Sedai hyperbole - 15/12/2011 09:51:00 PM 631 Views
And entirely based off your shared assumption. - 14/12/2011 05:15:51 AM 835 Views
Actually that's a lot of logical assumption. *NM* - 13/12/2011 01:28:00 PM 373 Views
But... - 14/12/2011 03:06:15 AM 636 Views
And - 30/12/2011 05:07:13 PM 735 Views
Yes - 13/12/2011 04:16:40 PM 901 Views
Re: Yes - 13/12/2011 04:47:17 PM 801 Views
Nah. Beyond the realm of possibility. Sorry, - 13/12/2011 05:12:40 PM 854 Views
There are a number of comments from Q&As that shows that this is possible and more complex. - 13/12/2011 08:23:49 PM 829 Views
None of which I disagree with, but a far cry from women being weaker just due to believing it... - 13/12/2011 08:39:40 PM 729 Views
But that is my point: it wouldn't be merely force of will. - 13/12/2011 09:40:17 PM 720 Views
What Rand is doing... - 14/12/2011 03:43:08 AM 839 Views
That would make sense given Min's vision - 16/12/2011 04:37:56 PM 647 Views
Wait.. I DIDN'T write that! - 14/12/2011 03:02:04 AM 722 Views
Reply to your question of - "Why use Logain gateway comparison as evidence:" - 17/12/2011 03:08:19 PM 836 Views
You're basically saying "correlation equals causation"... - 18/12/2011 06:18:47 AM 773 Views
On gateways - 18/12/2011 07:17:09 AM 797 Views
Might assume that Elayne is stronger in the Power than Aviendha. - 19/12/2011 02:40:46 PM 999 Views
I suspect he knows that... - 19/12/2011 05:53:00 PM 720 Views
Nope...some maths problems in your post. - 19/12/2011 07:41:29 PM 757 Views
But 64 square feet is not Elayne's maximum... - 20/12/2011 02:46:50 AM 713 Views
But Shielding is also relative. - 27/12/2011 09:35:11 PM 1965 Views
Re: Underestimating Forsaken strength - 22/12/2011 05:24:53 PM 755 Views

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