MisterGuess

Not that I recall. I'm not done with my reread yet, but it's the kind of weird background thing I'd expect to come out in a later book.

I've actually had the same experience. She might well turn out to be, and were it not for the several clues that lead me to think it's more than a simple case of good characterization, I'd agree with you.

Ah, I must have missed that. The first thing that struck me was the similarities between Steris and Sterrion, at which point I started looking at the dialog and actions of both women with my theory in mind. I'd be surprised if the overlap there was by coincidence...

I don't know if this...theory? has been laid out before. I'm hesitant to call it a theory since it doesn't play into the greater workings of the Cosmere, but I suppose it qualifies. Apologies if someone has already said this or if it's plainly obvious and I'm just now catching it. I usually lurk on the Cosemere Theories forum and may have missed it here. A search showed me squat. So: I think Steris is in love with Ranette. I'm rereading Alloy of Law, and after weeks of reading theories about everything under the sun after reading Words of Radiance twice in a week, my brain is set to see connections I missed before. It'll be easier to simply list my reasons for thinking this: --Steris is uncomfortable and stiff when discussing marriage to Wax, and while some of this is her personality, I think given her mechanical attention to detail about the marriage, it hints that she already has a lover. --Wayne makes a joke about her having a mistress. Brandon rarely puts things in his books without a solid reason, and even though Steris says that she will refrain from her dalliances in order to assure Wax any child is his, she might be saying this because she doesn't want people to know she's bisexual/lesbian. --Ranette names her masterwork gun Vindication, after Vin. Wax's favorite gun his his Sterrion 36. Again, Brandon rarely names a thing without good reason, and I can't help but notice the similarity here. If Vindication is named for a woman Ranette reveres, isn't it possible the Sterrion is named for the woman she loves? --Ranette moved back to Elendel. Why? My thought is that Ranette left to go to the Roughs because she and Steris had a falling out, or maybe there was a risk of scandal or blackmail. I don't have a sense of how same-sex relationships are treated on Scadrial, but any of them would work. Maybe she came back because years of yearning finally forced her to relocate. --Ranette rebuffs Wayne's attempts to woo her. This could be because Wayne is Wayne and Ranette simply doesn't see him that way, but from a storytelling perspective it would make sense that she's secretly in love with Steris. I don't know how plausible it is, but this is what came into my head fully-formed. I'm probably seeing more in this than actually exists, but Brandon is so good at laying these little clues that I can't help thinking I'm on to something. So come one, come all. Feel free to correct me, agree with me, shoot holes through this idea, whatever. Just thought I'd share.

After reading this, the thought immediately came into my head that Hoid might have volunteered to take up the role of God with the specific intent to allow himself to be shattered. I have no idea if Hoid's powers or history have been addressed in terms of having ever held a shard, but I like the theory above so much that I want to use it as a basis for his apparently unique combination of abilities.