In The Wheel of Time, certain characters can channel the One Power, the energy that powers the universe. The true nature of the One Power is mysterious, but channelers can use it to construct weaves of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Spirit. If they're powerful enough, they can make it rain on a sunny day, make someone debilitatingly susceptible to suggestion, or break the entire world.
In the massive Wheel of Time books, there are literally hundreds of named characters who can channel. Some can channel barely a trickle of the One Power while others can move mountains; it's easy to see who is stronger when you put those two groups next to each other. But a lot of the characters are on a far more even footing. Now that the third season of The Wheel of Time TV Show is over, let's survey some of the biggest players and figure out where they stand in relation to each other.
(True) Source?
The Wheel of Time author Robert Jordan actually had a system for keeping track of how strong his characters were in the One Power, and I'm delighted to report that it is arcane and hard to understand.
The One Power comes from the True Source, which is divided into two halves: saidin, which can be channeled by men; and saidar, which can be channeled by women. By the time we come into the story, the male half of the One Power has been tainted. All men who channel eventually go mad. One of the jobs of the Aes Sedai — the all-female organization of channelers — is to stop these men before they harm others, meaning there are way more female channelers in the world than male.
Jordan had separate notation systems for tracking the power levels of male and female channelers. A female channeler's power is expressed as a set of two numbers. Moiraine's power, for example, is expressed like this: 13(1). The first number measures power on a 72-point scale; the higher the number, the more powerful the channeler is, so Moiraine is high up but not at the top. The number in parentheses measures power on a 60-point scale, with a "1" meaning you have power equal to that of the most powerful Aes Sedai at the beginning of the book series.
However, characters like Lanfear — an ancient channeler from a more advanced age — are so powerful that they break this scale a bit. Lanfear's power level is 1(+12), so she's at the top of the 72-point scale and far more powerful than the most powerful Aes Sedai at the start of the books.
In the books, the most powerful male channelers are more powerful than even the strongest of female channelers; Jordan analogizes this to the way that, generally speaking, men are physically stronger than women in our world. So the few powerful male channelers we meet have their own notation system going from ++6 to ++1; again, the lower the number, the stronger the channeler. Rand al'Thor is the Dragon Reborn, the most powerful channeler alive. His power level is ++1.
If you are confused by all of this, that is because it is very confusing. It seems like Jordan used this system mostly for his own benefit to keep track of the huge number of characters he wrote; the system is never mentioned in the books themselves, and was only revealed after Jordan's death in a supplementary book called The Wheel of Time Companion.
We'll take the power scaling system into account when making our list, but it's not the only thing we'll consider. For one thing, we're talking about where the characters are at the end of season 3, whereas Jordan's notation system is more holistic. There are characters on this list who will one day be able to wield the One Power with more skill than others, but they're not there yet.
For another thing, The Wheel of Time TV show has made some changes to Jordan's magic system. While the show keeps the division between saidar and saidin, it seems to have largely dropped the conceit that men are inherently stronger in the One Power than women. In the books, only a man could have been the reincarnation of the Dragon, whereas in the show Egwene and Nynaeve are also candidates. And while in the books each of the male Forsaken are stronger than all of the female Forsaken, on the show, Lanfear claims she's stronger than fellow Forsaken Sammael and Rahvin, and neither of them object.
With all this groundwork laid, let's get to the rankings!
16. Aviendha
According to Robert Jordan's power scale, Avidenha has a power level of 11(+2), which makes her stronger than several of the other people on this list...on paper. However, in season 3, Aviendha is only just being cajoled into becoming an Aiel wise one — the Aiel version of the Aes Sedai, basically. Before this, she was a Maiden of the Spear, serving her people as a warrior. As such, she hasn't demonstrated much aptitude with the One Power, apart from entering the sacred city of Rhuidean and living to tell the tale. She's at the beginning of her journey with wielding the One Power, and she's at the beginning of our list.
15. Elayne
Elayne has a power level of 8(+5), making her even stronger than Aviendha. But those numbers measure full potential strength; in season 3, Elayne has only just gone through the arches and become one of the Accepted. She has yet to become a full Aes Sedai. As such, she has a ways to go before she reaches her full potential.
We have seen Elayne wield the One Power, though, like when she heals Rand in season 2 or when she uses a ter'angreal that produces balefire to kill a member of the Black Ajah in the season 3 finale. She's on her way, but she's still near the bottom of our list.
14. Egwene
Egwene has the same power level as Elayne: 8(+5). When they reach their full potential, they'll be two of the most powerful channelers alive. Right now, they're young girls who just became Accepted, although Egwene went through the arches slightly before Elayne did. She's a bit ahead.
We also see Egwene receive a lot of training from the Aiel wise ones on how to explore Tel'aran'rhiod, the dream world. Elayne didn't have quite as much training in the ways of the One Power in season 3, although she did get to use her singing voice more.
13. Verin
Verin is an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah, meaning she spends most of her time with her nose in books obtaining and synthesizing the wisdom of ages. She only has a power level of 17(5), which isn't especially impressive so far as characters in this series go.
However, while Verin may not be the most powerful of the Aes Sedai, she has been an Aes Sedai for a very long time; she's nearly 150 years old. As such, she knows her way around the One Power more than a couple of newly Accepted girls and will be able to do much more with it...for now.
12. Leane Sharif
Leane Sharif has a power level of 14(2), making her quite powerful as Aes Sedai go. She is a member of the Blue Ajah, which dedicates itself to noble causes. She is also the Keeper of the Chronicles, meaning she maintains the records of the White Tower Library. Leane works closely with Siuan Sanche, the leader of the Aes Sedai.
Leane is powerful, connected, and been at this for a while, but as a high-level bureaucrat, she doesn't have much opportunity to utilize the One Power out in the wider world. So she has a respectable place on our list, but pretty far from the top.
11. Alanna
Alanna has a power level of 17(5), which puts her below Leane on Jordan's power rankings. But remember: the power rankings were only an internal guide for Jordan and the show has changed some things. We've seen Alanna do some wild stuff on the show, so I'm going to take that into account.
Alanna is a member of the Green Ajah, who are trained for battle. During the Battle of the Two Rivers, she manages to make it rain ice down on the invading Trollocs, an impressive feat. She also takes on Liandrin and her Black Ajah sisters at the beginning of season 3; she loses that battle but holds her own, using the One Power to tear up the streets of Tar Valon.
10. Liandrin
Speaking of Liandrin, she is a ruthless member of the Black Ajah she's proven she's willing to do just about anything in service to the Dark One, including selling novices into slavery, attacking the Amyrlin Seat in her own hall, and convincing the Forsaken sorceress Moghedien to work with her.
In addition to her nerve and cunning, Liandrin is a skilled at wielding the One Power. She helped gentle the False Dragon Logain, successfully fought through a wave of Aes Sedai in Var Valon, and wiped out a bunch of Tanchican nobles before setting up shop in their home. She has a power level of 14(2), putting her on par with Leane Sharif in Jordan's power scale.
9. Siuan Sanche
With a power level of 13(1), Siuan Sanche is among the most powerful Aes Sedai at the start of the book series. She ought to be; after all, she's the Amyrlin Seat, the leader of the organization. That means that a lot of Siuan's time is spent on higher level duties such as managing personnel and planning bigger picture strategies. But she wouldn't have been elected Amyrlin Seat if she didn't have a lot of strength in the One Power, and she can use it if she needs to.
8. Elaida
Elaida also has a power level of 13(1), equal to that of Siuan Sanche. But while Siuan is around 40 years old at the start of the story, at least in the books, Elaida is closer to 150. That will give her the edge in terms of facility with the One Power.
7. Moiraine
Like Siuan Sanche and Elaida, Moiraine has a power level of 13(1). The difference is that while Siuan is busy with the administrative work of running the White Tower and Elaida has been an advisor to Queen Morgase of Andor, Moiraine has been spending her time out in the field looking for the Dragon Reborn. She battled Trollocs in Emond's Field, helped fight off a different horde in Fal Dara, and even fought against the Forsaken Lanfear in the season 3 finale. Sure, she had the aid of a powerful ter'angreal, but that's still some heavy stuff! Moiraine's hand-on experience gives her the edge over her sisters.
6. Moghedien
We have come to the first member of the Forsaken who will appear on our list. The Forsaken are ancient channelers who swore themselves to the dark one in ages past, and know things about how to use the One Power that the rest of the world has forgotten. After milennia of imprisonment, they are back to wreck havoc on the world.
All of the Forsaken are extremely powerful and dangerous, but Moghedien is the least powerful among them; that's mentioned multiple times in both the show and the books. With that in mind, she tends to keep a low profile and manipulate things from the shadows.
But she shouldn't be dismissed. In season 3, Moghedien sends Gray Man assasins after Rand and company, makes off with a collar that can tame the Dragon Reborn, and kills the more powerful Forsaken Sammael when he's in a vulnerable state. With a power level of 4(+9), she's stronger than anyone else on the list so far, even if she is the weakest of the Forsaken.
5. Nynaeve
Nynaeve may not be from the Age of Legends, but she can go toe to toe with some of the most powerful channelers of that time. She proves it in The Shadow Rising, the fourth book in The Wheel of Time series, where she goes toe to toe with Moghedien...and wins.
The third season of The Wheel of Time TV show was mostly based on The Shadow Rising, so I expected to see this battle come up...but it never happened; they're probably saving it for a future season. But we do see Nynaeve part a body of water like Moses, so clearly she has a lot of power.
Nynaeve's problem is that she has a psychological block that sometimes prevents her from using the One Power. But once she gets over it, she's nigh-unstoppable. With a power level of 3(+10), she's among the most powerful channelers alive, of this or any age.
4. Sammael
We've finally reached some of the male channelers! They're pretty much all Forsaken, since men who can channel in modern terms are hunted down by the Red Ajah before they can go mad and hurt people. Sammael is an ancient general with a grudge against Lews Therin, the last Dragon, and he does not have that problem. What he has is a ton of strength in the One Power: he stands at ++2, which makes him formidable indeed.
In season 3, Moiraine and Rand manage to subdue Sammael and bind him, which leaves him easy pickings for Moghedien, who kills him. That's a problem the Forsaken have; they often fight each other more than the Dragon. This does not happen in the books, where Sammael goes on to annoy Rand for a while. The show appears to be streamlining things and making room for other foes.
3. Rahvin
With a power level of ++1, the Forsaken Rahvin is as strong in the One Power as it is possible to be, tied with another person we'll get to shortly. Despite his immense strength in the power, Rahvin is something of a politician who prefers to solve problems with diplomacy if possible. He's also an expert at Compulsion, where he uses the One Power to manipulate peoples' minds. That's how he convinces Queen Morgase and the rest of her family that he's been courting Morgase for years when really he just waltzed in one day and set himself up as one of the most powerful people in Andor.
2. Lanfear
In the books, the Forsaken Lanfear has a power level of 1(+12), which makes her as strong as any female channeler alive, but weaker than some of the men. Like I said at the top of this post, the show seems to have done away with the conceit that men are naturally stronger in the power than women. When Lanfear meets with Sammael and Rahvin, she implies that she is the strongest of the Forsaken yet remaining. Sammael scoffs a bit, but neither challenge her on the claim.
It feels like the show has upped Lanfear's power a bit, making her more dangerous than before. And she was already dangerous, so Rand and company will have their hands full.
1. Rand al'Thor
Finally we come to our number one, and it could only be Rand al'Thor. He's the Dragon Reborn, for crying out loud, the most powerful channeler of this or any age. In the season 3 finale, he made it rain in the desert, which convinced the masses of assembled Aiel that he was the Car'a'carn, the chief of chiefs, the messiah of prophecy who will unite, destroy, and save them. If that's not power, I don't know what is.
Rand's power level is ++1, the same as Rahvin and Ishamael, who died at the end of the second season. But those guys aren't the Dragon Reborn. It's true that Rand has a ways to go before he masters hi powers, but putting anyone else in the number one spot would just feel wrong.
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