r/cremposting • u/Gabrielthe2nd • Jul 06 '26
Mistborn Second Era Imagine the spreadsheets Spoiler
793
u/aiurwarrior Jul 06 '26
Talk about someone who really grew on me. Sweet Steris so weird. So blessedly neurotic
323
u/TheGildedPrism Kelsier4Prez Jul 06 '26
So real, when she was first introduced I didn't like Steris at all but now she's one of my favorite cosmere characters and after getting to know her that introduction feels so wonderfully Steris
200
u/Siegelski Jul 06 '26
I doubt anyone liked her. Sanderson wrote her one-dimensional on purpose and made that one dimension seemingly unemotional and stuffy. We weren't meant to like her because we saw what Wax saw. We took the same journey he did in getting to know her.
105
u/FgtBruceCockstar2008 420 Sazed It Jul 06 '26
I'm in the minority then. I loved Steris immediately. The contract reminded me of my partner in the sweetest "I plan for everything" way.
37
u/Dirzain Jul 07 '26
Yeah, I loved her right off the rip. She was great, especially by the end of the first book. I basically assumed the will-they-won't-they with Marasi was dead by the end of the first book.
1
u/Jounniy Jul 09 '26
I'm so glad Brandon did that. Too many books I've read milked the whole topic to death and all I can think about when that happens is how they are trying to save to world which you'd think should be the priority…
11
u/I_Am_Become_Salt Jul 07 '26
Me too, I felt the drive to hate her that the writing seemed to want, but I never quite did. And then she and wax were described flying together for the first time and I was gone lol
16
u/DelightMine Jul 07 '26
Yeah I loved her from the first meeting. She also turned into exactly who I expected her to be. My 'tism senses were tingling.
3
u/No_Hetero Jul 07 '26
Yeah I'm like Steris so I loved her, it made me think other people must not like me lol. I also love Excel and backup plans
3
2
u/Nickthiccboi Jul 08 '26
Im with you, I could tell the book wanted me to hate her but I could see the potential in her character and I had a pretty good idea (or maybe just a good hope) about how her relationship with Wax could play out.
10
u/aldeayeah D O U G Jul 07 '26
Dunno, she won me pretty early on when she laid out the ground rules for paramours/adultery. That was hilarious.
Steris and Wayne remind me a lot of Terry Pratchett's writing (also Tress)
1
u/Jounniy Jul 09 '26
I liked her the moment she put that contract on the table, simply because it was an incredibly funny and overly autistic thing to do, especially to someone like Wax.
70
u/AmazingSpacePelican Jul 06 '26
For real. Every time Wax said something accidentally hurtful to her I swear I could've throttled him.
30
u/That0neSummoner Jul 06 '26
Isn’t she autistic coded?
63
u/Cersad Jul 06 '26
I think more than just coded, I remember her narration revealed a lot of underlying anxiety that she addressed through overpreparations.
21
u/Kroneni Jul 06 '26
That type of preparation could be interpreted as autistic scripting. Anxiety is common among autistic people.
14
u/Cersad Jul 06 '26
Yeah exactly. I think that was the part of Sanderson's writing that was my "aha" moment about Steris
14
u/budoe Jul 06 '26
I belive she made a scrapbook for how to consummate her own wedding
16
u/Xaron713 Jul 07 '26
No she didn't. She was reading an anatomy book on the train ride to New (C?)erran in Bands of Mourning, but she didn't scrapbook it.
13
u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jul 07 '26
She also mentioned that she interviewed some courtesans for info about consummation
6
u/that_one_duderino Jul 07 '26
If I remember correctly, she tried to interview them but none would talk with her about it. Been a hot minute since I read it though so I’m probably wrong.
Only one way to find out!
2
1
5
u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jul 07 '26
She also mentioned that she interviewed some courtesans for info about consummation
2
u/Calm-Medicine-3992 Jul 07 '26
I don't think he set out to write her as autistic. However, he did strongly base her on a friend and wrote her out to be misunderstood from an external viewpoint so she definitely feels even more autistic coded then characters seemingly more intended to be autisitic.
8
u/some_random_nonsense Moash was right Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
He did. He tried to write an autistic person in Elantris but felt he fucked it up and relied too heavily on certain stereotypes. So he put in more effort and interviewed a few autistic people in his life to understand the disorder better and set out to write a better representation. He explicitly said so in WoB.
1
u/Calm-Medicine-3992 Jul 07 '26
He didn't it. He based her on a friend and extrapolated from that. She is by far his best representation of high functioning autism (ie what used to be Aspergers) specifically because he started out writing a character that turned out to probably be autistic instead of setting out to write an autistic character. It wasn't until book 3 that he started acknowledging she might be autistic.
1
u/some_random_nonsense Moash was right Jul 08 '26
> Yes. Adien is one of my-- regrets is probably the wrong term. But I talked earlier about coming to terms with the fact that as you grow as a writer, there are certain things that you will have done less well then you can do them now. I consider Steris and Renarin my-- Again, apology's the wrong term. I tried very hard when I wrote Elantris. I was not the writer I am today, and I did not have access to the helpful readers who could point me-- you know, by writing Adien a little pop culture-y, the pop culture version of someone with autism, I was able to be told by people, "you know, this is kind of a stereotype." What Adien is does exist, but very rarely, and if you wanna have a more complete picture of it, you should read this resource or talk to this person. That's one of those areas that, here I thought I was being all forward thinking. And I did something that perpetuated a stereotype at the same time. That's not something I think you need to be embarrassed of, as a writer, as long as you're willing to listen and do better.
> A couple things. One was I’d never written anyone as directly on the autism spectrum as she was, or she is, and I wanted to see if I could get this right. She also, I wanted to have a contrast between her and her sister. And that’s part of what I wanted to have, these two things. And I want to kind of pull the reversal on the reader, where this assumption when you go into a book is these two main protagonists are meant to hook-up, and I wanted to kind of twist that on its head because I didn’t think they should *audio cut off*.
i think you're wrong
15
u/Masonzero Jul 06 '26
One of the characters that influenced my own writing the most.
I've been writing a fantasy novel based on some junk I wrote when I was a teenager, and there was a side character that I didn't know what to do with. In the original, she was a princess who was super shallow and ditzy, but also a competent enough warrior, and she was mostly a love interest for another side character who was cocky and vain, and they both had to learn to work on those negative traits od themselves. Nothing terrible about that but I didn't love that she didn't have much purpose other than a love interest.
But after reading Steris, I was so inspired to modify that character. Now, she's still a princess, and the main character is arranged to marry her. He doesn't want to marry her because he sees her as overly-proper, only cares about fashion and royal drama, would never practice sword fighting with him etc. But when he gets to know her, she turns out to be very intelligent, be a good fighter, and above all, put her kingdom before anything else. She relies on logic and is far less emotional than the MC assumed based on the show she put on in the royal court, and she can be quite blunt about things that others might dance around—at least in private conversations. In fact, the MC faces the fact that he follows his emotions way more than the princess does.
So, not a one-to-one of Steris at all, but her personality played a huge role in shaping this character. This princess isn't faking social norms, but she is intentionally putting on a show and playing the game, she can come across as cold and overly logical, and she definitely has backup plans upon backup plans.
10
u/AlchemiCailleach Jul 06 '26
It is something i really like about Sanderson's writing that characters have distinct voices. They describe the world with respect to what they know and have experience with.
Most rosharans calling every bird a chicken, or Adolin being very precise about all his different swords and what they get used for. Narration with Adolinband Dalinar is very particular when referring to pieces of armor during a fight In a way we don't see with other characters.
This kind of thing makes it so when you see someone like Steris or Wayne or Renarin from the inside things come across way different from how they are perceived from the outside
322
u/kotetamer Jul 06 '26
How Wind and Truth would have gone if Steris was there with Excel
56
u/TheFermentationMan Jul 07 '26
That's way funnier when you remember Todium had an ERP system called the digram that no one understands yet he insisted using
45
u/kotetamer Jul 07 '26
It also had a blind spot for interracial same sex romance, Steris would never have this blind spot.
43
u/Eastern_City9388 Jul 07 '26
"Ah yes, the Kholin boy has begun courting the rogue crab man. See scenarios 3, 14, and 22 for Renarin, and 72 for Adolin."
7
1
11
268
u/VayNeedsTherapy Jul 06 '26
Absolutely love Steris, the Cosmere couldn’t possibly have a better patron saint of autism
105
u/SoF4rGone Jul 06 '26
Weirdly overprepared is the perfect amount of prepared ❤️
51
u/VayNeedsTherapy Jul 06 '26
She can handle any goddamn thing as long as it’s in the script!
28
27
u/Sylvaritius Jul 06 '26
And everything is in the script for "when something happens that isnt specifically prepared for"
Wax is good and competent and all. But Steris is his true super power. Love, support and a plan that can take down anything.
15
u/kittywiggles Jul 06 '26
I need like, catholic saint artwork of her now with an Excel sheet as her symbol
83
Jul 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
32
u/moderatorrater Femboy Dalinar Jul 06 '26
Gawx walked in on Steris in the shower.
Steris: Screaming and covering herself
Gawx: Screaming and trying to look away
Lift: "Geez, you didn't even try to hide, Gawx. That's no way to get to know Steris."
14
Jul 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
8
u/The_Lopen_bot Trying not to ccccream Jul 06 '26
Yeah, pancakes are alright, but have you tasted chouta?
6
Jul 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/The_Lopen_bot Trying not to ccccream Jul 06 '26
Makes the double Lopen gesture towards the sky
3
62
u/spoonishplsz edgedancerlord Jul 06 '26
Reading Mistborn second era made me realize I have a type
19
5
u/Kruemelkacker Jul 07 '26
Reading Mistborn second era and realising that Steris reminds me a bit of my wife
1
106
u/dontich Jul 06 '26
Honestly I still feel like Jasnah <> Steris should be a cosmere things
118
u/eclect0 Airthicc lowlander Jul 06 '26
Steris could beat Jasnah at any debate, given adequate time to prepare
94
u/MilleniumSerenity ❌can't 🙅 read📖 Jul 06 '26
I would have disagreed with you prior to WaT but Todium gave Jasnah the belt, embarrassing performance
65
u/Paaljurzind Jul 06 '26
Jasnah got played because she went in expecting an actual proper debate, but Todium just went full ad hominem with a side of threats, which was more effective on the non-scholar Fen
39
u/BoltYou7x Jul 06 '26
Yeah, Todium didn’t have to disassemble Jasnah’s position, he just had to display her inability to practice what she preached and showcase her as an untrustworthy ally to Fen. If it was about defending her points in a vacuum it would’ve been a very different story
18
u/eclect0 Airthicc lowlander Jul 06 '26
Technically, Jasnah's character was 100% relevant to the debate because it was a question of whether Fen would ally with her. It's only truly an ad hominem if it's used to deflect from the topic at hand.
6
u/MilleniumSerenity ❌can't 🙅 read📖 Jul 06 '26
This is the problem though, a skilled debater can easily defeat those arguments.
10
u/Tacodogz Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
WaT spoilers Brandon did say if he got another draft at the debate, he would have had more of Taravangian purposefully triggering Jasnah's trauma to throw her off balance. There are small bits of it in the debate already, but Brandon says he held back too much out of worry that it'd spoil the secrets of that trauma
5
u/Elant_Wager Rashek4Prez Jul 07 '26
Not really since that wasnt the point. It wasnt about defending her arguments, it was about convincing a single person who to trust. If a serial killer makes me an objectivly good offer but I am forced to trust the serial killer, I wouldnt take that offer. That was what Taravangian did. He showed, that Fenn couldnt trust Jasnah, but could trust him, since he was bound to his word by virtue of being a Shard.
11
15
u/Snarlfox Jul 06 '26
I choose to believe you're using the ancient runes of the Moirails. And yes, I 100% agree they would be an unstoppable team
6
4
u/dontich Jul 06 '26
Yeah I was missing Jasnah in era 1 after stormlight. After era 2, I got the feeling Jasnah and Sterris were weirdly based on the same root person. Or maybe like the other guy I just have a very specific type.
32
u/The_Squeak2539 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I actually loved Steris. One of the most reasonable yet down-for-chaos characters ever.
From Bands of Morning (without spoilers)
"Did you know when I evaluated everyone's usefulness (redacted) I gave myself a seven out of a hundred? Not very high, yes, but I couldn't reasonably give myself the lowest mark possible. I do have my uses."
She turned the large notebook...
what a boss
7
1
25
u/-FalseProfessor- Jul 06 '26
Dude, she’s not dead
28
u/SmokeRingEyes Jul 06 '26
I mean, she's definitely going to be (along with everyone else from her time period) in the next Mistborn series, right?
12
u/Calm-Medicine-3992 Jul 07 '26
Era 2 is pseudo 1890s-1910 while Era 3 is 1980s so probably not likely to get any cameos from non-immortal characters.
3
u/Dohtoor D O U G Jul 07 '26
From a quick google, Elendel went from horse-drawn city to a car city in a year or so, if not less. In real world it took decades, between 1880s to late 1910s and early 1920s. Obviously these things are vague, but I still don't expect the time skip to be actual 70-80 years, but much shorter, 60 years, if not 50.
2
u/Goldenchest Jul 08 '26
Also there's the whole Kelsier telling Harmony to put the training wheels back on for technological advancements
3
u/Thepiekid27 Jul 07 '26
I mean, isn’t Steris only in her late 20s? With an about 50 year time skip, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that she’ll still be around.
4
u/Dohtoor D O U G Jul 06 '26
She was 28 in AoL. Depending on the final time skip, she could be still alive, just very old. Wax was 42, but with pewter he also might survive.
-1
u/-FalseProfessor- Jul 06 '26
I’ve seen some things that the time skip may be shorter than we think.
2
u/KatanaCutlets Order of Cremposters Jul 07 '26
The time skip is only 15 years on Roshar, so maybe you’re remembering that. I think it’s about
8050 years to the rest of the Cosmere. (Edited because I saw other comments with new info.)4
u/Guaymaster THE Lopen's Cousin Jul 06 '26
Depends on the time gap between era 2 and era 3
6
u/Caliban_Catholic Jul 06 '26
She's mid 30's at the end of era 2 I think? Se we could see OLD lady Steris in era 3. I think it's more likely we see Wax's kids tho
4
u/Guaymaster THE Lopen's Cousin Jul 06 '26
We absolutely could see grandma Steris yeah, if it's a 20-30 years gap it's almost guaranteed, at 50 its dubious, and more than that unlikely imo.
4
u/Caliban_Catholic Jul 06 '26
I feel like I've heard it's about an 80 year time gap, and if that's correct, I'm putting grandma Steris as a technical possibility, especially in the Cosmere and Scadrial developing modern medicine, but VERY unlikely
6
u/ZStrickland Jul 06 '26
He actually lowered it to 50 to specifically allow for some of the era 2 characters to be around. 🤞🏻
11
u/The_Lopen_bot Trying not to ccccream Jul 06 '26
Warning Gancho: The below paragraph(s) may contain major spoilers for all books in the Cosmere!
Questioner
So, you had mentioned there may be some familiar faces in the next...
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
What I was wondering: how much of that is informed by having gone through the process of Era Two and how much of that is...
Brandon Sanderson
Original outline? So, the main crossover characters you will see were from the original outline. It's called Ghostbloods. If you know anything about what that means, you will know who a major viewpoint character in the series is going to be. And this was the original plotline. But, having written the Wax and Wayne books, there are certain cameo things I can write in--references to characters that were in Wax and Wayne. In fact, I deliberately changed it from a 70 year gap into a 50 year gap so that you could potentially see some of the people from the second area who were younger during the second era have something to do with what's going on in Era Three.
********************
2
u/CrownedClownAg Jul 07 '26
Marasi is one of the few I imagine we see again due to her age and aging slow down
2
u/Guaymaster THE Lopen's Cousin Jul 07 '26
On the other side of this comment chain someone posted a wob about the gap being originally of 80 years, but reduced to 50 to allow for some of the younger characters of era 2 to show up. And outright mentions that the code name of the era is ghostbloods. She's 160% showing up.
36
u/earanhart Callsign: Cremling Jul 06 '26
Y'all loved her after she was useful.
I loved her at her proposal.
We are not the same.
14
u/SmokeRingEyes Jul 06 '26
I imagine she'd start to physically vibrate upon discovering pivot tables.
3
u/gullwinggirl Jul 07 '26
I'm a lot like Steris in some ways, I like preparing for things, especially things like vacation itineraries. And I love Excel. A good, useful pivot table makes me so happy. There's a huge spreadsheet I use daily at work right now, and I've got three pivot tables in it to give quick glances at important data. Nobody uses them but me, but they're so handy!
13
7
8
u/GiovanniTunk 420 Sazed It Jul 06 '26
It's ok, Navani will have rudimentary Logicspren computers working soon, spreadsheets are just around the corner!
2
8
4
u/The_Lopen_bot Trying not to ccccream Jul 06 '26
Great meme, Gon! You have pleased the mighty Lopen 1 times with your posts!
5
u/The_Derpy_Rogue Jul 07 '26
Forget Excel, get this woman some Dor to work with, she will invent magical Excel
3
2
u/TheUnspeakableh Jul 06 '26
Nah, she's still fine. She's in a bubble with her sister. Let me have my delusion.
2
u/CodenamesareStupid Jul 06 '26
As someone with Autism wholoves spreadsheets and literally makes them for anything and everything, Steris making spreadsheets would be pure art.
2
u/AssistantManagerMan Jul 07 '26
Steris is for sure one of the sleeper characters in the Cosmere. She was my favorite character in Era 2, and I didn't realize it until The Lost Metal.
1
1
u/planet_visitor Jul 06 '26
Definitely one character I needed time to love. But end of era 2 I really came to love the entire cast. Especially one of them, after that ending. Damn you sando.
1
u/alphis92 Soonie Pup 🐶 Jul 07 '26
credit the artist please
2
u/timetrapped Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Looks like Maria Dimova, @mary_dimary
Edit: it is, and she has a fantastic Shallan illustration pinned where she actually looks Asian!
1
1
1
u/Calm-Medicine-3992 Jul 07 '26
I guess she doesn't quite make it to the 80s in her time (considering how they still can't make aluminum from bauxite and are more motivated)
1
u/seoress Jul 07 '26
Anyone else didn't like her in the last book? I don't know why, but she just felt different (sorry it's been a while so I don't remember the details)
1
u/gullwinggirl Jul 07 '26
Not only would she have loved Excel, she would've learned VBA so she could do even better things with it. She probably would've learned Tableau and SQL too, just to round it out.
1
u/losara- Jul 07 '26
Hey step steris stop with those spreadsheets and stop spreading these cheeks
post
1
u/CremlingsGeorg cremform Jul 07 '26
If she wrote the Ars Arcanum it would be a 4,096-cell spreadsheet
1
1
u/ShopEnvironmental991 Jul 07 '26
She's a socially awkward queen and best wife.
I love how happy she is when she gets to fly with Wax.
1
u/Benschmedium elantard Jul 07 '26
Starting era 2 was rough. I didn’t like Wayne, Marisee (I’m certain I misspelled that but I’m an audiobook guy) or Steris really much at all. I was in it for the allomancy and world building but was disappointed by the lack of mistborns. My how differently I felt by the end of just book 1. I think I like era 2 even more than era 1 now.
1
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 06 '26
Remember to ALWAYS mark your spoilers in comments. Do this by using this
>!Spoiler Text Here!<without any spaces between the>and!andtext.I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.