Right, now you're in my territory - although others claim it as their own in error! Mhuhahahaha... - Edit 1
Before modification by Shannow at 16/11/2009 08:27:35 PM
There are a couple of factors at play here.
First.
Cadsuane says that it is NORMALLY sufficient to have one sister maintaining a shield, but she stresses that she never considered using only 1 sister on Semirhage. Remember that any normal circumstance would refer to holding an Aes Sedai shielded. There has never been a case where a Forsaken had to be shielded, so the "normal" measures go right out the window.
In truth, 3 sisters are needed to hold the shield over Semirhage. Remember that in CoS, 2 Black Ajah sisters were able to hold a shield over Nynaeve.
Second.
It is harder to hold a shield over a channeler of the opposite sex. How much harder, is difficult to say. But the hints are pretty clear that you would need more sisters to shield a man of comparative strength to Semirhage, than you would need to shield Semirhage herself.
And third.
Rand is a much higher on the male strength ladder than Semirhage is on the female ladder. So even if it was just as easy to shield someone of the opposite sex, you would STILL need more sisters to shield Rand than you would need to shield Semirhage.
Just as an aside, Rand only broke free once the shield was down to 3 sisters. But it seems pretty clear that he did that to be absolutely sure. If time had run out, he might well have tried his luck while 4 were still holding the shield.
And if he wasn't so weak at the time, he would probably have been able to break free of 5. It is indicated that Logain almost broke free from 6, and might well have overcome 5.
Hope this answer your question.
First.
Cadsuane says that it is NORMALLY sufficient to have one sister maintaining a shield, but she stresses that she never considered using only 1 sister on Semirhage. Remember that any normal circumstance would refer to holding an Aes Sedai shielded. There has never been a case where a Forsaken had to be shielded, so the "normal" measures go right out the window.
In truth, 3 sisters are needed to hold the shield over Semirhage. Remember that in CoS, 2 Black Ajah sisters were able to hold a shield over Nynaeve.
Second.
It is harder to hold a shield over a channeler of the opposite sex. How much harder, is difficult to say. But the hints are pretty clear that you would need more sisters to shield a man of comparative strength to Semirhage, than you would need to shield Semirhage herself.
And third.
Rand is a much higher on the male strength ladder than Semirhage is on the female ladder. So even if it was just as easy to shield someone of the opposite sex, you would STILL need more sisters to shield Rand than you would need to shield Semirhage.
Just as an aside, Rand only broke free once the shield was down to 3 sisters. But it seems pretty clear that he did that to be absolutely sure. If time had run out, he might well have tried his luck while 4 were still holding the shield.
And if he wasn't so weak at the time, he would probably have been able to break free of 5. It is indicated that Logain almost broke free from 6, and might well have overcome 5.
Hope this answer your question.