I look at things a different way, forgetting the actual events that hurt the shadow.
Where would be be in the story now without her? If any of the others were missing things would be worse, but Rand aside she'd been the catalyst for everything, theres a vision Rand has where he is an old man fightin trolloc's in the two rivers, this is what would have happened without her.
Where would be be in the story now without her? If any of the others were missing things would be worse, but Rand aside she'd been the catalyst for everything, theres a vision Rand has where he is an old man fightin trolloc's in the two rivers, this is what would have happened without her.
You make a good point. I certainly rate Moiraine high on my list. I am not so confident as to give any character an exact number. My main problem is that this relies too much on speculation about what might have happened. There are thousands of events that might have equal if not greater importance; we will never know though because we haven't had a vision of them. Some of those events in the visions you mentioned had Moiraine coming for Rand and Rand still losing.
Nynaeve ticks most boxes, but she never playes a major role in most of them, Moiraine and Lan where a two man army against the shadow for almost 20 years.
I love this quote. You are so right; My gut feeling, though, is that whatever the correct rating system is that Nynaeve will be very close to the top if not at the top.
It is amazing how well relatively unsophisticated models of ranking things works. (As long as they make a modestly unbiased attempt to include relevant parameters.) We can see something like this in College football with the various ranking systems. The top 10 will be different for each ranking system but they will agree in spirit much more then they disagree. They are sophisticated systems yet ask any modestly knowledgeable football fan to make their own top 10 and their ranking will be pretty good as long as they base it on facts and not personal fantasy.
RabidWombat
Which character (besides Rand) has hurt the shadow the most? (my analysis and your opinion)
17/10/2009 05:16:34 AM
- 1613 Views
I'd say Mat
17/10/2009 04:40:48 PM
- 859 Views
are you sure?
17/10/2009 04:48:01 PM
- 878 Views
Not to downplay Nynaeve
17/10/2009 08:40:45 PM
- 852 Views
Beg to differ, the "endless summer" was VERY important to the shadow
17/10/2009 10:44:15 PM
- 1069 Views
Re: Beg to differ, the "endless summer" was VERY important to the shadow
18/10/2009 11:10:20 PM
- 780 Views
believe what you want, but if the weather hadn't changed when it did TG would be over by now. *NM*
18/10/2009 11:56:09 PM
- 374 Views
It has to be Moiraine
17/10/2009 05:00:32 PM
- 885 Views
Actually there were a couple of versions that happened, and Moiraine came in neither.
17/10/2009 05:32:52 PM
- 964 Views
So you think the story would have panned out
17/10/2009 05:46:46 PM
- 713 Views
That's highly subjective
17/10/2009 08:52:17 PM
- 774 Views
I think you know exactly what I mean.
17/10/2009 10:53:40 PM
- 722 Views
All of them
18/10/2009 12:09:55 AM
- 847 Views

Those were only visions
18/10/2009 12:45:32 AM
- 744 Views
They may have only been visions...
18/10/2009 09:19:05 AM
- 786 Views
"Every possible outcome to a given situation is the actual outcome somewhere"
18/10/2009 04:45:44 PM
- 730 Views
Re: "Every possible outcome to a given situation is the actual outcome somewhere"
18/10/2009 06:51:42 PM
- 870 Views
It's almost irrelevant- the Dragon Reborn was Foretold
18/10/2009 02:07:47 AM
- 718 Views
Does that mean he'd win?
18/10/2009 04:47:56 PM
- 739 Views
IIRC the prophecies don't say anything about whether the DR will win.
18/10/2009 05:05:03 PM
- 683 Views
Good points
18/10/2009 06:14:08 AM
- 816 Views
Re: Which character (besides Rand) has hurt the shadow the most? (my analysis and your opinion)
17/10/2009 05:26:26 PM
- 988 Views
Someone needs to re-adjust their meds
18/10/2009 05:55:58 AM
- 850 Views
I wouldn't bother justifying yourself to him
18/10/2009 05:41:42 PM
- 748 Views
That is true for most people if not all
18/10/2009 11:28:44 PM
- 759 Views
He's got a point though...
21/10/2009 11:18:38 AM
- 819 Views
"Always fight back! Never justify" Internet discussion rules 101.
21/10/2009 04:37:32 PM
- 716 Views
Ishamael/Moridin
17/10/2009 06:44:35 PM
- 993 Views
Good call
17/10/2009 10:55:38 PM
- 797 Views
Not to mention I think he's more interested in self preservation at this moment
18/10/2009 07:18:28 AM
- 667 Views
lol It goes to show that even when you think you're doing evil, the Pattern makes it good. *NM*
18/10/2009 06:25:08 PM
- 343 Views
You make it sound very simple
18/10/2009 10:47:57 PM
- 808 Views
No - it is very simple
19/10/2009 05:01:44 AM
- 776 Views
I'm going with Nynaeve.
18/10/2009 06:23:55 PM
- 829 Views