So they're basically like Alivia, with advantages and disadvantages. As long as they don't have to defend themselves, I suppose it's all good.

But they do. Egwene has first hand experience of how strong Lanfear is. She has seen her power. I suspect her statement covers all of the Forsaken, not just the males.

Egwene has been at the mercy of Rand. That was a nasty lesson even from her own PoV. Even though everyone was 'weak' then, it showed her that males can be enormously powerful.

And Aviendha was also fighting her...

It's a fact and logical. On the hilltop she made a barrier that no lightning could break down. She said the angreal saved her barrier. We know that Demandred and Aginor were going for them, and they're ++2, so logically she had to pull more than this.

Rand wanted to shield seven Sisters at one point and Lews Therin said it would not be possible. Rand then thought about the angreal and LTT became uneasy. It's not a leap to say that he can shield two women unaided if he's considering seven.

When Elayne was in a circle with the Bowl she said she was drawing close to her maximum.

That is true. We have seen Graendal shield Aran'gar, but reference my point above on what Rand thinks about his own abilities.

Rand also mentions that shielding a woman doesn't require small amount of Power (when he shield Shalon).

It's most likely he has based everything off LTT's memories. He also says that no three women can cut him off from the Source under any circumstances unless they have Forsaken strength. This heavily hints at AOL knowledge.

How did they take down Aran'gar? Eben died! By all accounts Aran'gar was uninjured and merely forced back. Look a circle of four is not to be trifled with under any circumstances, but Aran'gar had several advantages. I don't even know how Daigian managed to fight someone who wielded saidin.

Also remember that we don't know what a weak angreal is. We were once told that a weak angreal made Elayne twice as strong as Nynaeve which I have to admit blew me away. I was thinking that a weak angreal would make you as strong as Nynaeve. Cadsuane must have a very weak angreal.

The most reliable comparison circle is the one that faced Demandred. A mixed circle of three hit Demandred exactly as hard as his own attack would have. It says it just like that. We know that mixed circles are greatly amplified, so it doesn't strain credibility at all that three women would be weaker than Demandred, and it would take about four or more to fight him linked. Egwene's statement is not ludicrous. Her circle with Romanda and Lelaine might be greater in strength than ++1 but fighting someone with much greater skill is also the challenge. I don't think that Egwene's circle would smother a male Forsaken. I think it would be a dead even duel, which is why Egwene is uncertain.

I agree, and Moghedien is the weakest of the Forsaken. The distance between Moghedien at 4 and the weakest male we know at ++4 might be considerable.

I agree, but either theory is acceptable.

Yes I agree with you. But 2x Aes Sedai < ++1 isn't very helpful. I suppose one can then place average AS strength at 40-50? We already know from Moiraine that Cadsuane doesn't stand too high above her.

I fully accept that. Alivia is prima facie proof that you need massive strength to face that sort of skill. I'm just merely reintroducing the argument that if Rand feels that he can easily face three average women, then you have to accept that Egwene might have difficulty facing a male even if all three of them are strong. You said her statement was discredited. I don't agree with that. The Forsaken faced strong circles at the Cleansing and none of them were outright overwhelmed.

It's an example. I'm saying that the Cleansing wasn't fully described.