How do you interpret the strength ratings in the Wheel of Time Companion?

Question

In the Wheel of Time Companion it lists the relative power levels of most channelers.

The power system for females is listed as being originally 1-60, with 1 being the strongest. Then, after the Two Rivers gals, Aviendha & Nicola showed up there were another 12 power levels (on top of that), for a total of 72.

To show both of these power levels, female channelers have power levels listed as Y(X), where Y is their level in the 72-base system, and X in the 60-base. This means that Moirraine is listed as 13(1).

However, it then goes on to state that male channelers have an additional 6 levels above what the female channelers have "at the top end", and that the strongest male channeler would be listed as ++1. Comparatively, the strongest female channeler would be 1(+12)

Then, for some characters, such as Elayne, their power is listed as 8(+5).

So, what do the single plus and double-plus ratings mean? Why is the strongest female rated as 1(+12), when typically the second number should be 12 lower than the first?

Answer 1

The confusion in the ranking system is because:

1. The male and female rankings are written using different notation, and
2. The female rankings give the appropriate power levels on two different scales.

Strength in saidar

The initial scale describe in the book is implied to be how the Aes Sedai rated themselves internally. This power ranking system had 60 levels, with 1 being the highest. The strongest channelers (e.g. Moraine) were ranked a 1, down to the weakest, rated a 60. Anyone below that was considered too weak to be accepted as a Novice.

The problem arose when the Two Rivers girls showed up; Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve all had strength in saidar that was way past rank 1, and that was before they ran into Windfinders and damane that were even stronger. So, they had to invent a new ranking system, by adding 12 new ranks to the top end, and pushing all the other ranks down. Under this system, Nynaeve is a 3, while Moraine is now a 13.

The Companion lists power rankings for female channels using the notation new system ( old system ), e.g. 1(13). However, for the newly added top-end levels, there is no value in the old system. In this case, the notation is new system ( +levels above old system ).

So, for example, Moraine is at level 1 in the old system, which becomes level 13 in the new system, so she is a 13(1). However, Elayne is a level 8 in the new system, which is 5 levels higher than 1 in the old system, so she is an 8(+5). The top 15 rankings for female channelers would then go like this:

• 1(+12) e.g. Lanfear, Alivia
• 2(+11) e.g. Cyndane, Mesaana
• 3(+10) e.g. Nynaeve
• 4(+9)
• 5(+8)
• 6(+7)
• 7(+6)
• 8(+5) e.g. Elayne, Egwene
• 9(+4)
• 10(+3)
• 11(+2)
• 12(+1)
• 13(1) e.g. Moraine (pre-Genji), Siuan (pre-stilling)
• 14(2)
• 15(3)

Strength in saidin

Overall, men had a stronger upper-level on strength in the One Power than women; that is, the top-level male channelers were stronger than the top-level female channelers. Thus, there are 6 additional levels on top of the 72-point women's scale that men can achieve. These are numbered 1 through 6, but in order to reflect the fact that women could never reach that level, those 6 are notated with a ++. Thus, the comparison between the top 10 men's levels vs. women would be:

• ++1 e.g. Rand, Moridin, Rahvin
• ++2 e.g. Demandred, Logain, Aginar, Sammael
• ++3 e.g. Asmodean
• ++4 e.g. Be'lal
• ++5
• ++6
• 7 == women's 1
• 8 == women's 2
• 9 == women's 3
• 10 == women's 4

Note that, apart from the Forsaken, most of the men do not have strength levels given for them, though we can infer Rand's because Logain at ++2 is "one step below" him. The Companion explains that it's impossible to know up front how strong a man will eventually become, in general, and that their strength level grows in unpredictable spurts. And, while women tend to reach their full potential in about a decade, men can take much longer. Thus, for most of the Asha'man, who only had a few years at best to channel, there's no way to judge how strong they would eventually get.

Answer 2

Since Lanfear was as strong as a woman could be (before her encounter with the Eelfinn), of course she's at the top. And the Aes Sedai had speculated in the earlier books that she was the strongest of the female Forsaken. as for the strength ratings just add 6 to the first number of the Aes Sedai rating. For instance, Nyneave's potential is 4(+9), meaning that on the male scale she has a rating of 10.