Not really ... the author himself stated that dueling etc... was dependent on a number of factors including Talents and such. All of these things which are NOT strength related will determine what an individual channeler is capable of and cannot be separated from that individual. Egwene (as an individual) may be a much more potent duelist than Metarra (let's say she is strong in Water, but weak in Fire) because of her lack of a flow weakness. Their strength is the same, but Egwene's flow affinities give her more options in a duel. Fact is there are pieces involved that cannot be taken out of the equation and thus factor into the broader "skill" category rather than "strength" category.



All I am saying is that strength gives you an inherent edge in a duel. The larger the strength margin is the larger the skill margin needs to be in order to bridge the gap. Egwene's level is far enough off of the very top that an individual at this level will need a large skill advantage to reliably defeat a Forsaken level individual. I don't see the gap between Egwene and Lanfear as insignificant. I think the step to Lanfear is about a 25% increase for Egwene ... that's about equal to the full strength of a woman like Daigain or even new Siuan level IMO.

If you were to look at it from a physical fight stand point Egwene would be a 6'0" (72" ) tall boxer facing Lanfear who would be 7'6" (90" ) tall boxer. While it's not impossible for Egwene to win if she has other physical attributes that make up the gap, like speed or denser muscle mass, Lanfear has a significant starting value advantage.


I disagree ... at 5x the strength Rand loses every time to Demandred unless Rand has the element of surprise or something completely random happens. Graendal's angreal is extremely weak, it could be a 10% or a 50% boost for all we know. But even a 10% increase for Graendal v. another Forsaken is probably going to give her an insurmountable edge in a direct confrontation ... which would indeed be a "nasty surprise" to anyone foolish enough to attack her without being aware of her extra strength. In fact, her commentary in this passage very much supports that skill overcomes strength in the right proportions ...

Consider if Lanfear who is slightly stronger but probably slightly less skilled ... we know they are close enough in strength that Graendal was prepared to fight Lanfear without an angreal, so the assumption is Graendal is slightly more skilled to keep it close enough that she didn't just back off or run when faced with a superior opponent ... Lanfear would be attacking Graendal with the expectation that her edge in strength would win her the day ... only to find out that Graendal is in fact now the stronger individual ... *Nasty Surprise* regardless of a 10% increase or a 50% increase as Lanfear would suddenly be facing both a stronger and more skilled opponent.

Demandred wanting a sa'angreal is just a way of saying he wanted there to be no duel ... just an overwhelming smack down on LTT!