The general support given as evidence of ShadowThrone's abilities is based on Kellenvad's actions in becoming Emperor. And the fact that he was admired as a military leader, and the fact that he Ascended. Personally, I have no qualms at all in agreeing that Kellenvad was something out of the ordinary.
On the other hand, we have ShadowThrone. Who is charitably described as crazy, and extremely paranoid. To be quite honest, I have a difficult time accepting that ShadowThrone is as great of a threat as most people seem to think, based on the actions that I have seen from him so far. In fact, I have a difficult time in seeing how ShadowThrone would have been able to achieve most of the stuff that Kellenvad did.
So that leaves me with a few options. One is that Erikson has just written this bit badly, and we are supposed to assume that since Kellenvad was a genius, so is ShadowThrone, despite how he acts. However, I have had a few thoughts which suggest some possible alternatives.
A. Ascending caused Kellenvad to go crazy, resulting in a ShadowThrone with some, but not all, of Kellenvad's abilities. In particular, it could have focused and accentuated previously minor quirks and flaws. This could be bad or good, depending on what those flaws were and how they are going to affect ShadowThrone reaching his goal.
B. Kellenvad never was that much of a genius in the first place, but was the front man for Dancer. For example, Kellenvad may have had a certain flair for military tactics, and been the sort of heroic figure that people naturally liked, which made it easier for him to be the public face of the Empire, while Dancer was the thinker manipulating things behind the scenes, which seems in keeping with his personality. Now, my thinking may be slanted, because we see more of Cotillion than we do of ShadowThrone, but it seems like Cotillion is the one out doing the research and planning and being much more hands-on than ShadowThrone.
Now, B could also be a result of A, if Cotillion is having to pick up slack for Kellenvad's lost abilities. And it could be just a bit of bad writing. But I am thinking that, if it is in fact B, it would give the title ShadowThrone a whole different level of meaning, and help explain why they seem more like partners than leader and subordinate. And it would explain why ShadowThrone doesn't seem to always be up on what Cotillion is doing. And it would be a perfect piece of misdirection for the CG. ShadowThrone provides a target for the CG's attacks, while Cotillion is free to work in the shadows.
I know that this is a radical thought, probably brought on by being up too late, but I have been having a hard time dealing with the discrepancy between Kellenvad and ShadowThrone, and this just sort of seemed like a possibility. And, if a coalition is in fact the basis for how Kellenvad got to the top of the Empire, it implies that Laseen may be part of a bigger behind-the-scenes puzzle than I first thought. Or I may just be making this more complicated than it needs to be.
