Hermes

**Hermes** is the Olympian God of commerce, trickery, and travel, as well as the messenger of the gods. He works with Charon to guide souls to their proper place in the Underworld, with Hermes delivering the souls to Charon, for him to ferry them down the Styx the rest of the way (giving Hermes the title of psychopomp, or someone who guides souls to the afterlife, which he and Charon share). He offers boons that enhance Zagreus's speed in various ways, including attack speed and special speed. His boons can also improve Zagreus's dash and cast recovery.

Hermes is one of five Olympian gods (the other four being Demeter, Zeus, Poseidon and Aphrodite) who will not appear in the very first run of a save.

## Characteristics and Personality

Messenger of the Gods, God of Merchants, and Tricksters, Hermes rushes in to help Zagreus escape. Hermes is quite talkative, frenzied, and rarely pauses to take a breath. Despite his other duties, he is also a psychopomp tasked with guiding the souls of the dead alongside Charon.

Hermes is free-spirited, has a bright personality, and is an animated and chatty god. He is well-informed and more aware of the situation than any other Olympian. Hermes speaks extremely quickly, without pauses, making it difficult at times to keep up with him, and causing some things to slip by less attentive ears. His rapid speech is due to the fact that he is always overloaded with messages to deliver.

He has a genuine camaraderie with his colleagues guardians of the dead, even appeasing the feared Charon, who is inaccessible even by underworld standards. Charon doesn't seem to find Hermes' energy tiring, and seems to enjoy his company, although Thanatos and many others think that he is irritatingly excitable to listen to.

Despite the nature of his job dealing with the dead, he is very vivacious. He is a jovial, mischievous god. Even though Hermes seems to be an "open book", he is the most "secretive" among the Olympians, revealing that not even his fellow Olympians know that he is helping Zagreus, and he will omit and keep certain information in secrecy for your own benefit. Although he is Zeus's accomplice, he is hiding the fact that he knows Persephone has returned to the underworld and will keep his mouth shut about it, no matter what it costs.

## Physical description

Hermes wears wings on his head and a smaller pair on each of his ankles and boots. He wears a slight smirk, is shown with his caduceus in his hands, and has legs that are firm and adapted for running. He wears a cream-colored chiton and carries a pouch full of parchments, letters, and trinkets he needs to deliver. He also has a turtle inside his satchel, which is one of his symbolic animals.

## History

### Before Hades

Even when he was just born, he was incredibly mischievous. With his playful nature, he jumped out of his swaddling clothes and stole Apollo's cattle. To prevent his brother from chasing him, he even threatened to plunder Apollo's temple. What is most known about him is that he is the god of roads, businessmen, and thieves. He once stole the scepter of Zeus, the trident of Poseidon, Apollo's bow, and Ares's sword. His swiftness and dexterity made him the embodiment of vigor, and he was later christened as a messenger of the gods.

He also accompanied the souls of the dead to the underworld of Hades and closed their eyes with the snake rod in his hand. He met Charon, a creepy figure, and they ended up becoming great friends.

### Epilogue

Hermes becomes aware of Zagreus' new "escaping arrangement" with Hades, and keeps it to himself.

## Affinity

If given Nectar, Hermes will give you the Lambent Plume.

Hermes' affinity gauge is maxed out at 8 hearts.

### Favor

Hermes' favor requires speaking with him while having the Lambent Plume equipped and max leveled to 3\*. It does not matter how many stacks of its bonus you have.

## Codex entry

'*...One of the free-spirited sons of Zeus, he is patron to travelers, traders, even tricksters. Youthful in spirit and appearance, he could be mistaken for a common lad, if not for his extraordinary swiftness. None whom I know approach his agility or athleticism. He puts this peerless skill to a specific use, serving as the messenger of Olympus. Vast distances are nothing to him. Yet, there is something more to Hermes: He is the only god upon Olympus who dutifully serves the Underworld, in addition to his Olympian affairs. The Underworld is an orderly place, but the souls of the dead must first be brought to its brink. He has much to do with this. He seems to have ingratiated himself to the boatman, Charon -- notoriously unapproachable even by the Underworld's own. Thus, it is my belief that Hermes, besides his many talents, is the god of more than he appears.*'

## Quotes

> *For quotes and dialogue regarding Hermes, please refer to Hermes/Quotes.*
>
>

## Boons

Boons from Hermes function slightly differently to other Olympians. None of his boons occupy Attack, Special, Cast, Dash, or Call slots, as they are designed to be mixed with and support other gods' boons. In addition, none of Hermes' boons can be enhanced with a Pom of Power.

His boons are in a different item pool than other Olympian boons for the purposes of Fated Authority and Charon's shop. His boon can take priority in appearance even if one equips other gods' keepsake. Additionally, his boons will never spawn as the first chamber's reward or in mini-boss encounters.

While Hermes boons can be offered more than twice in a run, you can only obtain two Hermes boons as room rewards regardless of whether or not you purge any prior selections. There is also a flat 50% chance for an additional Hermes boon to appear in the Temple of Styx shop even if you already have two. He never appears in a Trial of the Gods.

## Trivia

* Hermes is the first among the Olympian Gods to become aware of Zagreus' existence due to his frequent work-related visits to the Underworld.
* Hermes is the only character in the game wearing footwear, specifically boots.
* Hermes can come to comment on some of the shades Zagreus befriends, notably Orpheus and Eurydice. This would be because, according to the myths, he was the one who guided them in their way out of the Underworld. He also mentions he and Eurydice "didn't get a proper send-off last [they] met", reflecting how he was the one that had to then drag her back down after Orpheus failed.
	+ Although he doesn't name anyone, Hermes also comments on a shade he brought who was killed by a spear, was constanly lying and cheating and is still making ammends to this day. This is likely Sisyphus, who is said Hermes had to drag down to receive his punishment after cheating death the second time. Alternatively, it could be a reference to Odysseus, famous for lying and who was killed by his son Telegonus with a spear; however, Odysseus is never present in the game for us to be sure what ammends is Hermes talking about.
* As evidenced by one of his quotes, Hermes is the one that guides Persephone to Olympus. According to the myths, this task was shared with fellow goddess of roads and travels, Hecate, who would guide Persephone through the Underworld while Hermes would guide her during the other half of the way. Since Hecate doesn't appear in *Hades*, it's possible Hermes is guiding Persephone through the whole trip.

## Additional notes

*For additional information on Hermes that does not pertain to Hades, see Wikipedia's article: Hermes*

* Hermes seems to be the only Olympian God that Zagreus actively interacts with that knows that Zagreus is continually "failing" to get out of the Underworld. How he attained this information is unknown, but could be attributed to his speed and access to Charon on a normal basis. While in the majority of his lines it's obvious he's in Olympus or the surface, others seem to be face-to-face interactions with Zagreus, which would make him the only Olympian who knows Zagreus in person before the feast. He also states that he is fine with keeping the information secret, possibly due to his "God of Trickery" nature.
* While never stated in the game, the fandom often calls Hermes's turtle Chelly, short for Chelione. In the myths, Chelione was a lazy nymph who refused to go to Zeus and Hera's wedding, prefering to stay at home. Hermes was then tasked with her punishment: he threw her and her house into the river and transformed her into a turtle, bound to carry her home wherever she goes. Some versions say Zeus ordered Hermes to carry the task upon noticing the nymph wasn't present, while other versions say it was Hermes himself who noticed her ausence.

**Spoiler warning!**
This article contains detailed information about *Hades* that may spoil your enjoyment of discovering the game's secrets for yourself.
 Read at your own risk!

* A conversation with Skelly will reveal that both he and Hermes are aiding Zagreus' escape attempts at Charon's behest.
	+ Hermes is also privy to the information that Persephone returns to the House of Hades. He asks Zagreus for permission to spread this information as well, keeping the ruse a secret to the remaining Olympians.