Of course the answer is no. There is a huge gap in power between them. Graendal would never confront lanfear face to face. But sammael and even rahvin would. Clearly there is a bigger margin between the top 6 than suggested in this post.
I don't think there is any doubt that Lanfear is stronger that Granedal but equally Graendal seems to be pretty handy with compulsion. Now when she took on Moggy & Cyndane she has an angreal and Cyndane was weaker that Lanfear but it was compulsion that was her weave of choice.
We know a few things about the forsaken. Even the braver ones will not throw away their lives without a very good reason. Secondly I beleive that once one is close enough in OP strenght any duel could go either way, and it depends on a lot of things like the surroundings, who sruck first, how prepared the other channlerer was, just plain bad luck etc. Say Lanfear attacked Moggy, she would probably win 70% of the time but the 30% is what keeps Moggy breathing because why risk it unless you are very certain of victory.
Lastly Granedal may not be as strong as Lanfear but her superior compulsion skills act as a force equlaliser. She is more skillful with this very useful weave so she does not have to be as strong. She gets more bang for her buck that say Lanfear. Like wise Semirhage knows a lot about the body and in particular the brain. She can probably use offensive weaves that are a sort of reverse healing. This makes her dangerous even to a stronger channeler.
One last thing RJ has said that the forsaken lie even to themselves hence Rahvin's belief that he could take Lanfear. Its probably a case that the forsaken who were always at the top of the pile are a lot more accurate in judging their abilities and that of their enemies hence they don't get carried away with overconfidence.
I think Moghedien is truly weak compared to the others, which is why she hides and survives. She didn't even attend Forsaken meetings until she was mindtrapped. I do think that the six top Forsaken would generally come out on top of the others, and I can't imagine Mesaana gaining the upper hand on Semirhage, unless she was well prepared.
The strengths of the Forsaken is very vague. Shannow wants to toss out the BWB, which is fine. But this leaves the main series, which RJ himself said is filled with Forsaken lies. They even lie to themselves, he says. Therefore we have to go with his blog - where he mentions the top six Forsaken - 3 males and 3 females. They are thus top contenders in the Shadow and equal in lethality.
Wheel of Time board admin
Fan of Lanfear
Fan of Lanfear
The top 6 Forsaken - similar in the One Power
12/09/2009 09:27:20 PM
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The Big White Book says...
12/09/2009 11:46:43 PM
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Not Aginor
13/09/2009 08:36:37 AM
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Re: Not Aginor
13/09/2009 03:16:13 PM
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Re: Not Aginor
13/09/2009 05:47:14 PM
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Fact is, the bwb is untrustworthy
13/09/2009 05:54:28 PM
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But, RJ himself said that the BWB was written from the standpoint of a scholar
14/09/2009 04:42:59 PM
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It all depends on how you define "powerful"
14/09/2009 02:30:31 AM
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So is graendal similar to lanfear then?
13/09/2009 05:41:42 PM
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Graendal could fight Lanfear and win
13/09/2009 06:01:57 PM
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Graendal herself says...
13/09/2009 09:08:46 PM
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Lanfear was more powerful than Graendal, but Cyndane has less power
13/09/2009 10:19:35 PM
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Re: So is graendal similar to lanfear then?
13/09/2009 06:05:11 PM
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I agree with this
13/09/2009 06:15:24 PM
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Compulsion=any other deadly weave. Doesn't really change matters
13/09/2009 10:23:40 PM
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But it did give her an edge, and against two forsaken. *NM*
13/09/2009 11:12:09 PM
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Not at all
14/09/2009 04:51:48 AM
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But Graendal confronted her... twice! *NM*
13/09/2009 07:48:29 PM
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Apparently only the third time counts
*NM*
13/09/2009 08:00:37 PM
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But the third time's supposed to be lucky. So that won't count either. *NM*
13/09/2009 11:26:18 PM
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Really?
13/09/2009 08:36:33 PM
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No falsely...
13/09/2009 11:25:40 PM
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And, of course, the male and female OP strength ranks might not even correlate that much
14/09/2009 04:41:58 PM
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They correlate on some critical points
14/09/2009 06:57:43 PM
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That's not exactly what I'm referring to.
15/09/2009 04:36:29 PM
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But then we are discussing the same thing
15/09/2009 06:59:04 PM
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I think, outside of semantics, our main disagreement doesn't lie amid the higher tiers
16/09/2009 03:53:09 PM
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Probably
16/09/2009 06:31:27 PM
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I only disagree on one point, I think they are all rather equal in potential, incl. Ishamael
14/09/2009 04:28:12 PM
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I do think Ishamel is special
14/09/2009 07:04:03 PM
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He's special the same way any individual is special.
14/09/2009 11:36:42 PM
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Re: He's special the same way any individual is special.
15/09/2009 08:36:20 AM
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Re: He's special the same way any individual is special.
15/09/2009 03:48:34 PM
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Re: He's special the same way any individual is special.
15/09/2009 04:39:39 PM
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The more interesting question is...
14/09/2009 06:34:11 PM
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Hmmm
14/09/2009 07:04:34 PM
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I think we'll see Graendal vs. Aran'gar.
14/09/2009 07:31:16 PM
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Ah yes, that makes sense, and would be great! *NM*
14/09/2009 07:40:29 PM
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Yeah. Though I think its no competition. Graendal has got to be better than a walking tree!
14/09/2009 07:50:09 PM
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They do imply that Graendal is a lot more dangerous than she looks
14/09/2009 09:08:43 PM
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I've never underestimated Graendal
14/09/2009 09:42:49 PM
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Yeah... her frivolity was always a red flag for me too.
14/09/2009 10:18:40 PM
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To me, she is the most lethal.
15/09/2009 05:18:10 PM
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I still like Lanfear more
15/09/2009 06:51:03 PM
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Graendal did not beat me and Moghedien
15/09/2009 05:59:39 PM
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Agreed
15/09/2009 06:36:48 PM
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Ummm... how do we know?
15/09/2009 06:40:57 PM
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