well, I'm not one to debate this as you guys are, but this experience has thrown me into the middle of it all.

First, it's clear that Brandon focuses elsewhere. I think this is a good indication that raw strength in power rarely matters that much. I can easily see that Brandon only really looks at this for issues of AS deference and direct conflicts - which we didn't get much of in TGS. As we saw with the Cyndane question, he's not infallible. But my conversation with him specifically on Nynaeve, Semi, and Mesaana left me confident that he had it right.


I think that Nynaeve, Semirhage and Mesaana are all pretty close in strength. With Nynaeve slightly stronger than Semi and Semi slightly stronger than Mesaana.

I think that it's unclear if Graendal is stronger than Someryn or not. Both are prideful women who are used to being the strongest around - particularly Someryn who has never before encountered someone at or very near her strength. The muted responses that we see from both Graendal and Someryn indicate to me that each felt the other was stronger. With the lack of anything difinitive, I think they should be considered essentially equal.

Nynaeve and Talaan are a bit more difficult - we know that at the time of the training that Nynaeve wasn't yet at her full potential. It's debatable if Talaan was or not. I honestly think Nynaeve is slightly stronger, but calling them equal makes a lot of sense.

Sharina may or may not be at the level of Graendal. But I think with knowing how rare that strength is, putting her below Graendal is the way to go.

I imagine there is a slight chance that one of Tuon's damane is up near this strength, but we have absolutely no evidence to support that.

Basically, all this adds up to me agreeing with what you've put together here.


edit: Also I find that Sheriam's reaction to Mesaana's strength is very interesting. Sheriam has been around Nynaeve enough that she shouldn't be so shocked. One conclusion I have is that Mesaana uses a weave to make her seem stronger. We've all long suspected that she can make herself seem weaker - seeming stronger should just be a minor variation of that weave. Mesaana wouldn't ever bother using it around the forsaken since they all know how strong she is anyway.