My main issue with Linda's list is the Forsaken occupy so many Levels 16-21 which seems very unlikley to me. IMO the Forsaken level Channelers all occupy Levels 20-21 and that these levels would occupy the top 85% of Strength/Effectiveness. Egwene level at 19 and Cadsuane 18 etc.... Daigian IMO needs to be higher on the scale to be even remotely close to RJs statement that AS are 62.5% or above Strength. Even if you assume Daigian and some of the other very weak AS are below that due to the lowering standards of the Tower they are still far too low on any scale. At the worst she needs to be around a 6-7 on your list to make it reasonable that the Bell Curve distribution won't make her a true outlier, which we know can't be the case or she would not have be anywhere close to being AS.


I like the methodology you've applied, but I feel like having a Forsaken level channeler being that much weaker than the top (30%+) ... Moghedien and Mesaana would never have stood a chance as top tier Forsaken, and even Semirhage would be on the cusp due to her lower power level and never would have made it into the "elite top 6". We know they were willing to destroy each other during the WoP so the least skilled and the least powerful would have ended up either dead or as part of one of the major Forsaken's "staff". Why would Semirhage, one of the very top in the Forsaken hierarchy, create an alliance with a woman so much weaker who was also lower than her on the hierarchy AND not just make her a minion? Mesaana at 25% or more weaker than Lanfear, and as a less than skilled (by Forsaken standards) would never have risen so high. During the WoP she would have been a nice 2nd in command to Semirhage if she was that much weaker, but no way would she "match up closely" as she herself thinks ... even if that is delusional, she's not stupid enough to think she could take on a more skilled and significantly stronger opponent and hope to survive.

Even Moiraine's level has experienced no issues with any given weave in terms of strength. Which again makes me think of them as significantly powerful, at the least I think they are the mid-way point of maximum strength, which would mean 50% of all women can perform ANY weave from the AoL with her own natural strength ... Which seems reasonable to me.

I have played with a 0-441 point strength scale over time and then applied "% of maximum" which places the Forsaken on levels 20-21 and I feel comfortable with how each character's power level maps to the series.

On my scale Lanfear can channel 441 "units" of saidar, Graendal at 98% can channel 432, Nynaeve 423, Egwene 352, Cadsuane 330, Moiraine 220, Vandene/Adeleas 106 and Daigian 71 ... Morgase would be 4 "units" ... Rand, assuming from RJs comments that there are "several levels of strength men have on top of women", could channel 625 "units" of saidin, but still have an effective strength that is equal to Lanfear. So a woman like Egwene is probably like 55% of Rand's RAW strength, but in reality is about 80% as effective as he (or Lanfear) is, when both are at full potential and assuming equal training.

Lanfear would be significantly stronger than Egwene here, she would equal Egwene paired with a weaker Sister like Siuan at her new strength 90ish. To face a Male Forsaken Egwene would indeed have to link with both Romanda and Lelaine to have any chance against a male such as Rand ... linking bonuses aside they'd only have about a 15% strength advantage on my scale.