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Yes and No darius_sedai Send a noteboard - 09/12/2015 04:35:48 PM

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Level 19 is about the "middle" of the Aes Sedai strength range (at least for named characters) making roughly 50% of the Aes Sedai being strong enough to Travel.

108 Aes Sedai women above level 19
101 Aes Sedai women below level 19

15-16 years of training seems to be about the average time. 73 women completed training in 16 years or less, 87 women took longer.

Most women spend less time as Accepted than as Novice, in some cases a LOT less time, but most of the time it is no more than 1-2 years longer as a Novice. Team Jordan tended to explain when a woman spend a significant time as a Novice (typically lied about age or was some kind of discipline problem etc).

Weak women generally take longer in training time than strong women. 30 women managed to achieve the Shawl in 10 or fewer years only 4, Amico (27), Lyrelle Arienwin (24), Vandene (22) and Adeleas (23) had weaker than 19 strength.

Of the 73 women who achieved the shawl in fewer than 16 years 24 had less than 19 strength.

of the 87 remaining women with training times, 38 were below strength 19

Black Ajah seems to skew high in strength ... of the 34 Aes Sedai we know are Black and have a strength score, only 8 are weaker than level 19

Nationality breakout (every nation is represented):

52 Andorans (counting Two Rivers)
45 Seanchan
44 Aiel
24 Sea Folk
24 Taraboner
23 Domani
21 Arafellin
18 Tairen
17 Cairhienin
17 Saldaean
16 Murandian
14 Kandori
12 Illianer
9 Altaran
8 Ghealdanin
6 Far Madding (including a False Dragon)
6 Shienaran
5 Amadicians
3 Mayener
2 Black Hills
1 Malkieri (counting Nynaeve as Andoran)
1 Sharan
1 Tinker

Age Ranges

4 400-600+
11 300-400 (2 Aes Sedai lived past 300)
24 200-300
76 100-200
58 50-100
68 <50

Ajah

60 Green
53 Brown
48 Gray
45 Yellow
42 Red
39 Blue
37 White

42 Black

*please note that not all Aes Sedai had complete information on strength, training time or Ajah etc so the numbers here don't add up consistently.


This is further proof that natural skill increases with strength. This is very obvious with very strong channelers like Egwene and Elayne who could fully channel within only two years and with multiple flows. However, it is nice to see how the trend continues all the way down. Weaker women take longer to master channeling. Not a surprise at all.

It's also interesting that the BA are so strong. They might target stronger women for conversion, or kill the, if they refuse , or stronger channelers enjoy power and find other ways to become "more powerful".


While it's obvious that stronger women generally move through training faster, I'm not sure we can say that strength = faster to learn. We've seen many weak women learn weaves quickly, I think it's more about how long it takes them to gain strength. Aes Sedai won't let a woman advance to Accepted until she's hit roughly level 53 in strength. If women gain strength at a relatively steady pace once they begin channeling you have to figure that a stronger woman probably achieves these strength minimums a bit faster than a weaker woman (i.e. if a woman gains 5% of her strength a year a stronger woman would naturally hit the minimum levels before a weaker woman).

I think what we can also look to is the stronger women who did NOT move quickly:

Shemerim = behavior
Silviana = Issues learning despite her strength
Merise = spent 15 years as novice because she was so young, she was only 5 years as Accepted

I think this sort of tells us that most of the time strong women attain the necessary strength at a quicker pace, but that they don't always have the learning capacity or personality necessary to move quickly through training. Merise, because she was so young would have gained strength more slowly (we are told that the older a woman is when she begins training the faster she will gain her strength).

Domani Drag Queen in the White Tower ... Aran'gar watch out!
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Sortable, searchable file of Channelers - 28/11/2015 10:01:57 PM 3304 Views
Outstanding job - 29/11/2015 04:15:17 PM 1047 Views
Re: Outstanding job - 29/11/2015 06:53:40 PM 1042 Views
Very impressive. Well done. - 29/11/2015 04:41:52 PM 1179 Views
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Well maybe - 02/12/2015 06:31:05 AM 1151 Views
Here's how I see it: - 02/12/2015 08:34:54 AM 1220 Views
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Re: Here's how I see it: - 02/12/2015 04:46:54 PM 1322 Views
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I agree with you on this - 03/12/2015 03:22:22 PM 1028 Views
Re: Morgase - 03/12/2015 07:46:59 PM 1294 Views
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Re: Well maybe - 02/12/2015 03:52:49 PM 1251 Views
Re: Well maybe - 02/12/2015 04:42:37 PM 1330 Views
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Indeed - 02/12/2015 08:21:07 PM 1097 Views
Re: Indeed - 03/12/2015 04:08:03 AM 1028 Views
close enough to not debate about it - 03/12/2015 03:47:55 PM 1063 Views
Re: close enough to not debate about it - 03/12/2015 04:14:38 PM 1061 Views
I think you misunderstand what I'm saying - 03/12/2015 04:43:29 PM 1096 Views
Re: I think you misunderstand what I'm saying - 03/12/2015 05:41:17 PM 1146 Views
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That's on you... - 04/12/2015 09:46:51 PM 1088 Views
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Re: close enough to not debate about it - 05/12/2015 11:29:44 AM 1121 Views
Re: I added Rand and Lews Therin to the ++1 Strength - 03/12/2015 07:22:15 AM 1038 Views
Great job - 30/11/2015 05:45:27 AM 1045 Views
Re: Great job - 30/11/2015 03:22:09 PM 1065 Views
Made a few adjustments to add some presumed minimum/maximum levels *NM* - 30/11/2015 04:28:13 PM 694 Views
Some questions - 30/11/2015 05:18:00 PM 1063 Views
Re: Some questions - 30/11/2015 07:26:29 PM 1033 Views
Re: Some questions - 01/12/2015 08:05:01 AM 1221 Views
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Re: Some more - 01/12/2015 07:34:20 PM 1156 Views
Re: Some more - 02/12/2015 12:27:40 AM 1151 Views
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Re: Some more - 02/12/2015 08:24:49 AM 1116 Views
Re: Some more - 02/12/2015 05:54:49 PM 1168 Views
Re: Some more - 03/12/2015 04:26:45 AM 1005 Views
You said this much better than I did - 03/12/2015 03:53:57 PM 1040 Views
I think the men are much too strong - 02/12/2015 09:01:56 AM 1223 Views
Yes - 02/12/2015 03:06:44 PM 1068 Views
Re: Yes - 02/12/2015 04:45:20 PM 1154 Views
Re: Yes - 02/12/2015 06:39:43 PM 1204 Views
Re: Yes - 03/12/2015 03:56:23 AM 1009 Views
I think when characters quoted information from their world it gets muddled - 03/12/2015 04:19:43 PM 1079 Views
Shielding - 05/12/2015 11:19:40 AM 1007 Views
I feel like there is an RJ quote about this actually - 06/12/2015 06:41:35 PM 1001 Views
Re: I feel like there is an RJ quote about this actually - 07/12/2015 12:39:54 PM 1042 Views
seriously! - 07/12/2015 04:55:43 PM 1052 Views
Who should defer to whom? - 01/12/2015 08:17:22 PM 1231 Views
Interesting... - 02/12/2015 08:44:32 AM 1179 Views
I think there needs to be a pretty significant (5+ levels) difference - 02/12/2015 06:25:35 PM 1216 Views
Good job - 05/12/2015 08:43:09 PM 1420 Views
Some questions - 06/12/2015 12:28:46 AM 1084 Views
Can't offer much - 06/12/2015 12:33:29 AM 1257 Views
Cool. Hopefully Dom will see this... - 06/12/2015 08:58:39 PM 952 Views
Re: Some questions - 06/12/2015 08:06:56 PM 1027 Views
Then there would be some mention of it, yes/ - 06/12/2015 08:56:10 PM 962 Views
Not at all ... He clearly had a general sense of how it worked - 07/12/2015 03:28:35 AM 959 Views
Re: Some questions - 07/12/2015 04:19:43 PM 1251 Views
it probably has to do with the fact that the characters in the books are also obsessed with strength - 06/12/2015 07:58:20 PM 1085 Views
Sort of. - 06/12/2015 10:30:36 PM 1414 Views
Makes sense - 07/12/2015 12:38:54 AM 966 Views
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Re: Clearly his strength rankings came in mid-series - 10/12/2015 05:33:27 AM 1043 Views
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That too is possible - 09/12/2015 03:02:12 PM 998 Views
Some random trends/data points - 08/12/2015 08:39:14 PM 1001 Views
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Re: Who is the one Sharan? And I'm surprised so many Seanchan have listed strength levels. - 09/12/2015 02:31:18 PM 1066 Views
Not sure she can channel, though - 09/12/2015 03:22:17 PM 884 Views
Re: Not sure she can channel, though - 09/12/2015 04:54:37 PM 1074 Views
duplicate post ignore *NM* - 09/12/2015 02:31:36 PM 575 Views
duplicate post ignore *NM* - 09/12/2015 02:31:55 PM 606 Views
so.... - 09/12/2015 06:10:41 AM 1066 Views
Nope... - 09/12/2015 03:24:07 PM 1020 Views
Yes - 09/12/2015 03:46:30 PM 974 Views
Some things to consider - 09/12/2015 04:18:50 PM 991 Views
Re: Some things to consider - 10/12/2015 05:43:35 AM 965 Views
Re: Some things to consider - 10/12/2015 06:28:49 AM 905 Views
Re: Some things to consider - 10/12/2015 11:53:51 AM 962 Views
Sorilea has always been shown as skilled - 10/12/2015 04:10:37 PM 1006 Views
Re: Some things to consider - 10/12/2015 04:46:29 PM 925 Views
Re: Some things to consider - 10/12/2015 05:50:17 PM 957 Views
plenty of weaker ones with notably strong Talents actually - 10/12/2015 06:26:03 PM 1044 Views
This is a flawed list - 11/12/2015 05:14:47 AM 946 Views
and you are just rationalizing to make your point seem plausible - 11/12/2015 03:10:12 PM 1063 Views
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Not really - 11/12/2015 09:09:41 PM 1008 Views
You are trying to force fit thin evidence into a sweeping statement - 11/12/2015 10:13:13 PM 1030 Views
Re: You are trying to force fit thin evidence into a sweeping statement - 12/12/2015 06:46:05 AM 970 Views
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Some quotes - 12/12/2015 01:18:41 AM 936 Views
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Re: Some things to consider - 12/12/2015 06:19:15 AM 1008 Views
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I'm actually perplexed - 15/12/2015 07:19:27 AM 908 Views
Re: I'm actually perplexed - 17/12/2015 11:36:59 AM 1026 Views
LOL ... Amen! *NM* - 15/12/2015 03:54:55 PM 616 Views
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Yes and No - 09/12/2015 04:35:48 PM 948 Views
Re: Yes and No - 09/12/2015 10:41:32 PM 1033 Views
Indeed - 09/12/2015 11:01:03 PM 984 Views
Ajah Strength Index - 09/12/2015 10:45:29 PM 1008 Views
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Me too honestly - 10/12/2015 03:12:21 AM 922 Views
Re: Me too honestly - 10/12/2015 04:59:42 AM 959 Views
Re: Me too honestly - 10/12/2015 04:18:00 PM 966 Views
Re: Ajah Strength Index - 10/12/2015 05:40:39 AM 976 Views
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Explain - 11/12/2015 05:16:55 AM 1052 Views
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If I was Cadsuane I would have done it differently - 15/12/2015 10:01:07 PM 978 Views
Aran'gar - 16/12/2015 01:11:17 AM 1125 Views
Re: Aran'gar - 16/12/2015 06:54:28 AM 1026 Views
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Re: Aran'gar - 16/12/2015 06:50:27 PM 1148 Views
Re: Aran'gar - 17/12/2015 10:07:48 AM 1175 Views
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