Okay. Irrelevant, but okay...


Why? What makes you think Nynaeve even knew that once the forkroot dampens down enough that you can channel, you cannot channel the full amount? Or that if she knew, she told Egwene. It certainly doesn't come up in the conversation she has with Egwene!

So, when Egwene met Silviana, all she knew was tha Forkroot dampens your ability to channel, and she was certain that the effects were beginning to lift now. From her PoV, it is clear that she thinks that it is Silviana's strength, and that fact that she assumed the shield without leaving a gap, that prevent her from reaching for the source, and not the forkroot. She may have been completely wrong, and the forkroot may have been dampening her strength even then.

But there is no doubt that Egwene thinks that Silviana is strong enough to shield her, and because of the forkroot. Which is all that should concern us.


That's a load of crap! Such things are often repeated anyway, and till that point, as readers, we did not know that you can have forkroot and still channel lower amounts of the power. We know that only when Silviana tells Egwene about it. So there is every reason for Egwene to think about the forkroot, but she only talks about Silviana's strength.


That was only shown after this scene. Before that, we had exactly one instance of Forkroot use, and it was a very strong dose. You're applying your superior knowledge to the character here, and inferring something completely wrong from her PoV.


In which case, the fact that Silviana is far from weak is an irrelevant statement. If, in Egwene's assessment at that time, forkroot really entered her calculations, she would have said that Sorilea could hold her shield, instead of saying Silviana was more than strong enough to hold her shield!


And how did she know her own power will be lower? Heck, even the readers didn't know that was possible till Silviana informed us! Everyone thought forkroot was an all or nothing deal. You're just using knowledge we had after this scene.


Please note that Egwene did not break the shield. She hammered at it hard, but failed to break it. Amys just says she gets exhausted by holding the shield.

As a comparable situation, see how Aviendha says she needs to put more of the power into her Gateway than Elayne. Amys likely has the same issue. She needs to use all of her strength to maintain a shield on Egwene. With Silviana, Egwene has grown in strength, so Silviana also has to probably use all her strength to hold Egwene. But she can indeed do it, especially since she is likely better than Amys at shielding.