Now I'm thinking the Absolute is just the Dead Three, Voltron'd together into a mega-god.
A merged god is a real possibility but Shar has to be part of the conspiracy for shadow magic to be involved.
The "Shar as Protector" is a possibility but that doesn't explain the instant transformation we saw on the nautaloid. As I see it shadow magic keeps the tadpole in stasis, the true souls use the powers, tadpole gains power without changing the body and at the right time the absolute pushes the button and 'bam' all the leaders become flayers.
