So either Liandrin is wrong, or the Forsaken were holding back when they were sending attacks on Cadsuane's shield. IMO Liandrin was, as usual overestimating herself. However, it should be mentioned that the Sisters with Liandrin are pretty weak so it's possible that 2 Temaile types may only equal 1 Merise!



Only that they will be exceptional by Tower standards, I don't recall if their is a quote that says anything to figure out if they are above Moiraine, but they are the only other Novices who's strength is brought up.



Egwene actually thinks that Nynaeve could possibly split her flows a dozen ways, not that she thinks Nynaeve could match Rand.




All we have to go on is a snippet of a text saying FD X took out 6 AS. I'm not disputing that it happened, I'm saying it's not "Often" as you put it (it's only happened a handful of times, or no Red Sister would be out of the Tower on her own). I'm also saying that we have no idea what the circumstances of these battles looked like!

Again, Siuan makes a claim that seems highly suspect, Rand had no chance of breaking the shield held against him when he was in captured... and all he did was obsessively try to break it... with LTT in his head giving him pointers!

Either Logain was held by 6 women like Daigian, or Siuan left out some details there.



Sigh ... I'm saying you're not looking at the context of the battle in question. Merean wasn't only fighting a battle with the OP, she had set up a classic bad guy situation where the protagonist had to make impossible choices to distract her from the fight! It's not like Merean and Moiraine wandered into each other in the middle of nowhere and had a free for all battle, Merean had hostages!



I've admitted this is my opinion, just as the above is yours! Since we've never seen it we don't know. My interpretation of the text leads me to believe that Egwene would be more than solid in a duel against any woman in the series. Not to say she could over come one of the Forsaken, I'm not deluded



No Egwene acknowledges that only Nynaeve is as strong as the Forsaken. There is a difference.



Agreed, but Graendal tells us that she will not have skill and strength in the same place. Semirhage wouldn't have blinked at Cadsuane if she was on the same level as Merise, no matter how skilled or old or in charge. It's the combination of her strength along with the other.



Huh? Amys flat out tells Egwene that she couldn't hold her shield any longer. Silviana is not as strong as Amys. Egwene in that moment was exhausted. This does not equate to one woman being able to hold her shield.



Two BA put a shield on Nynaeve and held if for a few heartbeats. They got distracted and either dropped the shield or she broke through. There is nothing to say that Ispan and Falion could have held the shield for long other than Nynaeve's constantly fatalistic outlook



I know the following:

Nynaeve attempted to shield Elayne and failed. Who knows why, but, if she was that much stronger than Elayne no amount of poor weaving should have been able to stop her from shielding her. Obviously if Nynaeve concentrated harder in that moment she would have been able to do it. My point is that Elayne is close enough to her that she has to make an effort to shield her, something I don't think she would have to do for Moiraine etc...