Hermes

Divine Messenger, Immortal Vagabond, Master Swindler, Swift One, Tricky One, Plundering One, Beneficial One, Zeus' Little Lapdog, Glorified Delivery Boy

## Relationships

### Ancestors

Khaos (Progenitor)
Ouranos (Ancestor)
Gaia (Ancestor)
Kronos (Grandfather)
Atlas (Grandfather)
Rhea (Grandmother)
Pleione (Grandmother)

### Siblings

**Paternal Half-Siblings**
Hephaestus, Persephone, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Dionysus...

### Romances

Peitho (Wife)
Apollo, Aphrodite, Khione, Larunda, Dryope...

### Children

**Immortal Sons**
Pan, Hermaphroditus
**Mortal Sons**
Autolycus, Barry Allen, Chris Rodriguez, Conner Stoll, Jack London, Kieran Valentine, Luke Castellan, Thierry Hermès, Travis Stoll...
**Immortal Daughters**
Tyche, Angelia
**Mortal Daughters**
Alice Miyazawa, Harriet Tubman, Palaestra

## Personal Status

### Groups

Younger Olympians
Twelve Olympians (11th)

### Affliations

Mount Olympus
Olympian Deities
Greco-Roman Deities
Greco-Roman Pantheon
D.O.A Studios
Olympus Postal Service
House of Hades
Greco-Roman Underworld

### Abilities

**Ethereal Energy** * Monetary Manipulation
* Economy Manipulation
* Afterlife Traveling

### Equipment

Caduceus
Original Talaria
Cloak of Invisibility

## Portrayal

### English VA

Matthew Mercer

**Hermes**, also called **Mercury**, is the God of Trade, Commerce, and Traveling from Greco-Roman mythology. As one of the Twelve Olympians, he is a bastard son of Zeus with the Pleiad Maia, daughter of the Titan Atlas.

## Overview

**Hermes** is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators.

He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.

In myth, Hermes functioned as the emissary and messenger of the gods, and was often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster," about which the *Homeric Hymn to Hermes* offers the most well-known account.

His attributes and symbols include the *herma*, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense. However, his main symbol is the *caduceus*, a winged staff intertwined with two snakes copulating and carvings of the other gods. His attributes had previously influenced the earlier Etruscan god Turms.

In Roman mythology, Hermes was known as Mercury, a name derived from the Latin *merx*, meaning "merchandise," and the origin of the words "*mer*chant" and "com*merce*."

## Appearance

Hermes appears as a fair-skinned young man with a tall and athletic build. He has mischievous teal-colored eyes and braided light-brown hair. Compared to his brothers, whose handsomeness is described as the epitome of masculinity, he is described as being attractive in a roguishly charming kind of way.

While performing duties as a Divine Messenger, he wears a "fancier version of a USPS mailman uniform", with winged cap and an invisibility cloak wrapped around his shoulders like a *ruana*. His talaria also transformed into a pair of dress shoes in this form.

## Personality

Hermes is, unlike many of the Olympians, a generally reasonable and helpful figure. He has a greater understanding of humans and is - according to Dionysus - one of the most human-like among the trueborn gods. He isn't prone to overt arrogance like Zeus or Hera, nor character quirks like Apollo and Aphrodite. Part of this may be the result of his duties of helping ancient humans rationalize divine events, thus giving him a greater understanding of things beyond himself.

His visits are often beneficial to gods and humans alike, and he is known for often helping struggling heroes and demigods. While this is frequently at the request of other gods or personal motivations, there have been many times when he has helped people out of the goodness of his heart, without any ulterior motive. Because of this, he is also known as the friendliest to mankind.

He is one of cleverer and more cunning of the Olympian gods, and is known for his deception, trickery, and craftiness. He is the divine patron of thieves and merchants, which Apollo has commented to be not so different from one another, and he is said to be the one who taught men how to cheat and lie. According to Apollo, it is easier to understand how Athena's mind works than it is understanding Hermes'.

Like other divine tricksters, he can be quite playful and childish at times. And like other gods, he is naturally boastful and slightly arrogant due to his status as one of the Twelve Olympians, though for the most parts, his boasting is mainly for the sake of boasting and doesn't carry any ill-intention in them. He is also very talkative and has trouble keeping his mouth shut when gossiping with others, a trait while unnoticed by him is well-exploited by other gods whenever they want exclusive information.

However, despite his previous traits, he takes his duties as a god very seriously, rather unlike gods such as Apollo or Dionysus who take their responsibilities in a much lighter manner. As a result, he will not breach the ancient laws or commit a divine taboo, even to save his own children, since not even he can defy [Fate], as attempting to do so would only make matters worse for all of them.

## Equipment

**Argeïphontes(Giant-Killing Golden Sword)**: An ancient Greek *kopis* made of Imperial Gold, engraved with ancient Mycenaean hieroglyphs upon the blade, and a caduceus emblem on the hilt. It has the power to concentrate ethereal energy to create semi-sentient energy slashes that can track down his target.

**Caduceus**: Hermes' legendary staff and Symbol of Power. It is a golden staff with two snakes entwining around the tips, below a pair of golden wings. The tip of the staff is sharp and made of Celestial Bronze, which allows the wielder to use it as an impromptu-spear during combat. The wings also grow in size when commanded, allowing him to ride upon it to fly like a flying broom.

**Original Talaria**: Hermes owns the original Talaria, a type of winged sandals that grants him the power of flight and immensely increases his speed to beyond the speed of light, in addition to letting him walk on all kinds of surfaces. It also has the power of teleportation, allowing him to create portals to anywhere on Mount Olympus.

**Cloak of Invisibility**: Hermes owns an invisibility cloak that is half-tan and half-iridescent that renders him invisible to both gods and humans. However, since sound, smell, body temperature, tracks, etc, are situational oversights, they are not cloaked and opponents can still detect him if they pay attention to these details hard enough.

## Trivia

* His name "Hermes" derived from "stone heap" called *herma* (ἕρμα).
* Hermes' attributes are the *herma*, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, winged shoes, and the *petasos*, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense.
* As he is the god of invention, Hermes claims that he invented the Internet.
* Hermes likes to sit in the back of the bus (the disguised Sun Chariot) with Apollo.
* While Hermes and Nike are about as fast as each other, his winged shoes give him an advantage.
* As Messenger Gods, Hermes and Iris are allowed to freely travel between any realms in the Greco-Roman cosmos.
* Hermes' Symbol of Power, the Caduceus is often confused with the Staff of Asclepius, which is a sign of healing, whilst the caduceus is not.
* His Roman name "Mercury" derived from the Latin *merx*, meaning "merchandise".
* Mercury, the first planet from the Sun, was named after him, as well as the chemical element.
	+ The word *mercurial* is commonly used to refer to something or someone erratic, volatile or unstable, derived from his swift flights from place to place.
	+ The 69230 Hermes asteroid is named after him.
* The Fetiales refused to recognize the identity of Mercury with Hermes, and ordered him to be represented with a sacred branch as the emblem of peace, instead of the caduceus. In later times however, he was completely identified with the Greek Hermes.
* A Roman historian, Tacitus, associated Mercury with the Norse god Odin.