Honorless

That's a pretty neat theory. She'd have to be a different kind of Cognitive Shadow though, as it seems like she does age. She just started her menstrual cycle and was quite distraught when she realized that she is aging and Cultivation did not grant her what she asked for. For your point (1), Humans can have a stronger connection to the Cognitive Realm. Or rather, mostly human? The Unkalaki people can see spren rather than just the manifestation poking into the Physical. Maybe Lift just has more of that. For your point (2), since she is aging, as she notices in RoW, then her wish to never change was not granted. So, while being turned into a Cognitive Shadow is a very interesting way of granting that wish, this probably isn't what's going on with her. Huh, I was wondering how her ability to metabolize Lifelight would've been handled by this Cognitive Shadow theory, also pretty good & interesting! Overall, it's actually not impossible. Lift could be a new type of Cognitive Shadow. Maybe she will stop aging at some point in her adulthood. Also, possibly related, Brandon has confirmed that the Heralds and the Returned are both capable of having children. Wait a minute! The God-Kings of Hallandren! The God-Kings die as babies and then Return... wait, I don't know if they Return in an adult body or if they age into an adult and then freeze. I do remember wondering if Returned return back into their own bodies, and the answer was yes, so the Returned would, in this case, return back into their baby body. Well, Investiture can and do change their bodies though, that's how Stennimar turned into Lightsong. Hmm... Okay, so, the theory does tie everything up satisfactorily and not actually a definitive no to the theory yet, I think.

Kokerlii's breed does seem to create a... Coppercloud like effect from how Sixth seems to think of them. And Sixth thinks that the Aviar around Patji's Pool should shield them and they did seem to. Sak's ability seems to require a bond though.

Sorry, sorry! Different timezones, y'all! Good guesses all around! Yes, Zane is the correct answer! Next clue would've been: this character was involved in a love triangle

Whenever an entity is granting another entity the ability to use magic, there's Spiritual Connection involved and the two (or more) entities share some kind of Bond. Like the Knights Radiant and their spren or even the lichen and Sand Masters. Kokerlii's breed does seem to create a... Coppercloud like effect from how Sixth seems to think of them. And Sixth thinks that the Aviar around Patji's Pool should shield them and they did seem to. Sak's ability seems to require a bond though. My guess is the parasite itself might also have a Bond of some kind with the bird. The parasites do come from trees growing around a Perpendicularity, they might get altered by the exposure to that much Investiture, though I think it's more likely that they need the Investiture for their life processes before they get inside the bird. The Aviar don't seem to require Investiture as fuel, so they probably have a direct conduit to the power, like Elantrians, the Heralds or technically the Mistborn and Mistings (their Spiritwebs and the metals act as keys to Preservation's power sort of) Hopefully something we'll learn in the sequel (if you didn't know, there's a reading from the sequel on the Arcanum). You can read it here:

Sak seems to be able to tell the future... herself iirc, too. So, I would say yes, they don't just bestow abilities on humans, they have those abilities themselves as well. Plus, Kokerlii's breed seems to have a Coppercloud like effect in their general vicinity instead of bestowing a Talent onto their human, so that counts too. This actually also checks out with the Radiant spren. They have Surge like abilities. The Honorspren city plays around with gravity and Syl was able to manipulate local pressure to shield Kaladin when he was strung out in a Highstorm.

Hmm... I don't think so. Seems more like spren bonds, but not on the level of Radiant Nahel Bonds. The White Sand microorganisms also work via Bonds, as per WoBs. Passive benefits would require more Investiture, I think, and would be less varied among the Aviar, who seem to be generally around the same level, possibly minus cases like Sak.

Oo, good guesses but nope! Although, are these characters not well-regarded? Hmm... huh, I had heard complaints about the Elantris mains, or rather Raoden and Sarene but not Hrathen, and a lot of people did not like Vivenna because of her holier-than-thou attitude in the beginning. Okay, yeah, good guesses! 1) This character was not well-received by most fans 2) This character defined themselves by their relation to a main character 3) This character lived during a time of some religious turmoil, and though they were theistic, their beliefs were non-standard 4) This character was Invested. And that got them killed.

noppitty

Nope! 1) This character was not well-received by most fans 2) This character defined themselves by their relation to a main character 3) This character lived during a time of some religious turmoil, and though they were theistic, their beliefs were non-standard

Oof lol, no, not her 1) This character was not well-received by most fans 2) This character defined themselves by their relation to a main character

Oh, I was too late 1) This character was not well-received by most fans

I really did think that what Navani heard were baseless rumours. I don't really ship them together and yeah it's a bit weird to think of Jasnah and Hoid. Together. But it could work. They're not head over heels with one another, no love at first sight, struck by lightning, I would die for you nonsense over here. They're just two people working on having a relationship and I do like that idea. I'll be happy to see this ship sail on into the sunset. I'll also probably enjoy reading the drama if it goes up in flames, tbh. But this could be a chance to see something rare in fiction, a relationship that people are building from the ground up instead of the usual romance chulldung.

Oh... it's Kenton

It is programmed to a specific ability is what we currently think. The Spiritweb of an Allomancer gives them Connection to Preservation and allows them to process the metals to get Investiture. The Investiture is programmed by the metals, as we know from WoBs RoW spoilers

Yeah...

Marsh?

Just you wait for Taln and Ash

The first Bondsmith helped unite people, the second helped unite people and spren, the third could be humans and singers. If Raboniel was alive...Rlain is now taken, and Taravangian is no longer an option. Gawx or Fen could be the next Bondsmiths, though going with the prev idea, perhaps Leshwi? It very well could be Rysn, another combination of Surgebinding and Dawnshard, which is what destroyed Ashyn. It would make for an interesting back-5. Or hell, could be Ishar again or one of the other Heralds, probably but not necessarily excluding Taln and Ash (though he is Prime Beef for Stonewards and I like the Dustbringer Ash theory), the Heralds are major religious figures and could promote unity across most of Roshar. So my candidates are: Rysn, Fen, Gawx, Ishar, Leshwi- oh! Maybe El?! He does like humanity.

That'd be a strange but not unpleasant surprise, if Kal manages to hammer in some therapy on Moash. Though now that Kal's arc has a theme of letting go, accepting not being able to help everyone, this probably isn't the route this story will go *hint, hint, fanfic authors*. I think I remember another theory, comparing Dalinar and Moash: that we saw one of them while they were in the process of getting back up and the other in the process of falling down. Yeah, I'm all for Moash redemption, assuming his anger at the system is actually handled properly and not just treated like an... episode he needs to get over with therapy. I feel like RoW did Moash dirty.

is it Ashertmarn, my fellow Unmade buddy?

Kaladin and Shallan used Stormlight and their Radiant abilities in the latter half of OB after escaping Kholinar. The expedition in RoW didn't use Stormlight that much but we do see Shallan use it again. In both situations we see gemstone Stormlight storage and the effects of inhaling Stormlight remain the same as on the Physical Realm.

Agreed. Whenever the Steel Inquisitors appeared I ended up holding the book a bit away from me to read it, lol. They had such menace! I could hear boss music playing. The Fused in OB did have the effect when they first appeared though. Also, at this point there seems to be a lot of villain-of-the-week thing going on. We haven't had any Fused appear again from OB, apart from Leshwi. Both Raboniel and Lezian were one book villains, and it feels like El might be too. On the other hand, the Steel Inquisitors weren't characters we were exploring, they remained villains even after Marsh became one. The Fused are just people. They're not filling the exact same narrative role.

Moash seems the most likely to me as well. He's too much of an important character, he's been built up or err down, I guess, too much to just fizzle out. The next most likely is Gavilar though I don't think he needs to be alive for that to work. A flashback interlude character would be interesting. El also seems likely. He just appeared out of nowhere, and his chances of being a one-book-villain are pretty high, he might need the page-count. Leshwi is possible but I think Venli now covers most of that area. Having Leshwi's PoV might also give up too much info too soon. The Ghostbloods are very unlikely to have the main interlude. They're a Worldhopping organization. Way too much info to give up way too soon. They also work better without giving us an inside view. The Heralds are also unlikely for the same reason, imo - it's too soon. I think they'll be left for the back-5 but they're still more likely than the Ghostbloods. If one of them is the main interlude viewpoint character, that could be a transition point from the front-5 to the back-5, but I think that's already covered with Ishar and Kalak at this point. I think one of the back-5 protagonists (minus Shalash and Taln) are also possible candidates for main interlude character. I think Lift has already been covered. I'm looking at Jasnah or more likely, Renarin. Sja-Anat or any other Unmade also seem unlikely to be the main interlude character. Might reveal too much, but with their mindsets, it might be possible to leave tantalizing hints of things to come. Ba-Ado-Mishram is supposed to be important in this book, so she's also a possible candidate but an unlikely one, I think. I don't think either one of the female Heralds whom we haven't met yet or any of the Unmade we haven't met yet are likely candidates. I think the pattern of not using the main interlude narration to introduce a new character is more likely to continue but it's not impossible. We might meet Dai-Gonarthis, hopefully. Or possibly Chemoarish. I don't think Taravangian is going to make a comeback as the main interlude character but I sure would love it if he did!

A better question would be what is so important that Vasher would choose to stay? There's nothing tying him back. People he was close to and had unfinished business with (the Five Scholars) are mostly dead. The last time he helped, it started the Manywar. The next instance of his help involved having to kill his own wife for the greater good. Beyond that, staying meant consuming Breaths and that has to weigh on one's mind. That particular issue is further exacerbated with Nightblood, who consumes many Breaths with every use. Leaving for somewhere which has abundant free Investiture seems morally better. There's nothing to hold him back and there's reason for him to want to leave.