Hermes

**Hermes** is the Greek god of roads, travel, gymnasiums, athletes, diplomacy, orators, thieves, commerce, trade, and invention. He is the messenger of the gods and is charged with guiding the souls of the dead to the afterlife. His Roman counterpart is **Mercury**.

## History

### Birth and Abducting Apollo's Cattle

Hermes was born sometime after the First Titanomachy, the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the Pleiad Maia. (The god's place of birth was, according to many sources, Mount Cyllene in northeastern Arcadia). Being a god, he matured rapidly and within a few minutes of his birth stole the cattle of Apollo and invented the lyre. He even thought of a clever way to cover up his crime: tying bundles of grass to the cows' feet and leading them backward out of the pasture to make it look like something had been led into the pasture but not away from it.

Despite this, Apollo found out and went to Zeus for justice. When brought before his father on Mount Olympus, Hermes attempted to charm Zeus into letting him go by telling him he was just an innocent newborn baby. Undeceived, but amused by the child's boldness and wit, Zeus instead forced him to compensate Apollo, which Hermes did by presenting him with the lyre. Apollo was instantly enchanted by the instrument and forgot about his anger immediately. Hermes also traded the shepherd's pipe (another invention of his) to Apollo in exchange for his golden staff (Caduceus), sword, and knowledge of the art of prophecy. When he came of age, Hermes was made the messenger of the gods.

### Chelone

Hermes was in charge of distributing invitations to the many guests of Zeus and Hera's wedding. Among them was the nymph Chelone, who had no desire to come to the celebration. An angry Hermes then lifted her house and hurled it at Chelone, transforming her into the first turtle.

### Pandora

When his father Zeus decided to create the irresistible Pandora (in order to punish Epimetheus for his brother Prometheus' actions), Hermes helped by gifting the girl with deceitfulness, which was what greatly contributed to her finally opening her *pithos*.

### Messenger of the Gods

As the messenger of gods, Hermes would often serve as the intermediary between the gods and the mortal world. As a result, Hermes became the only major Olympian that could freely enter the realm of any other god without an invitation. One of his tasks would also be to lead the souls of the deceased to Charon in the Underworld.

### The First Gigantomachy

During the First Gigantomachy, Hermes brought down the Giant Hippolytos with the help of the mighty demigod Hercules.

Hermes was also the one to reluctantly free Ares from the latter's 13-month long imprisonment in Otis and Ephialtes' Celestial Bronze jar.

### Typhon

After Zeus' defeat in his first battle with the monstrous storm giant Typhon, Hermes found his father's disabled and immobilized body (since Typhon had ripped his divine tendons out), and carried it to a cave with the help of the minor satyr god Aegipan. After Aegipan managed to trick Typhon into returning Zeus' tendons, Hermes helped re-attach them to his father with careful zaps of the lightning bolts retrieved back from the storm giant's bag. As a god, a very grateful Zeus healed almost instantly and requested that Hermes stay out of the way of his final grandiose battle with his colossal foe, Hermes being more than happy to comply.

### Helping Perseus

When his demigod half-brother Perseus was given the seemingly impossible task of beheading Medusa, Hermes promptly arrived to help, bringing with him a magical expandable bag, a pair of winged sandals (similar to his own), and a replica of Hades' Helm of Darkness. Hermes then gave the demigod strict instructions on how to use these items and advised him to visit the Gray Sisters first, as they were the only ones who knew the location of Medusa's secret lair, which then Perseus, being grateful, tried to give him a hug.

## Trojan War

During the Trojan War Hermes sided with the Greeks and delivered Zeus' order to Achilles that the hero return Hector's body to his father, King Priam. When Priam sought to ransom Achilles to return Hector's body to him, Hermes guided him at night to the hero's tent.

Hermes later aided the hero Odysseus against Circe and later told Calypso to either let him go or face the wrath of Zeus.

## Appearance

He is described in *The Sea of Monsters* as appearing to resemble a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, as a jogger, and in his original form has a muscular build, curly black hair, blue eyes, elfish features, and a sly grin. He has been known to wear nylon running shorts and New York City Marathon T-shirt while jogging, an outfit similar to a mailman's when delivering mail with a pith helmet which sprout wings, and a suit. He carries a cell phone which turns into a caduceus. He has been known to sport winged shoes. When Hermes becomes furious in *The Last Olympian*, he has a furrowed brow, his eyes get steely cold, and his facial expression hardens "like [he'd] turned into marble."

## Personality

Hermes is, unlike many of the other Olympians, a generally reasonable and helpful figure and he has a greater understanding of mortals (much like Artemis). Hermes is not prone to the overt arrogance of some like Zeus or Ares, nor the character quirks like Apollo or Aphrodite. Part of this may be due to part of his job being to help mortals rationalize divine events giving him a greater understanding of things beyond himself. He is shown to care a great deal for his children (especially Luke) and to be far more accepting of others. Both traits are not common among the other major Olympians.

Hermes's visits are often beneficial to gods and demigods alike, and often help them out, though this is frequently at the request of another god or personal motivations. Hermes tends to be one of the more clever and cunning of the gods, as he tricked Argus into falling asleep and even outsmarted Apollo when he was a child. Since another one of Hermes's jobs is to guide the souls of the deceased into the Underworld, he is one of the few Olympians to have been on good terms with Hades before *The Last Olympian*. In addition, as revealed in *The Blood of Olympus*, Hermes seems to have unrequited feelings for Athena.

However, as shown in *The Last Olympian*, Hermes can become very angry when crossed, or especially if someone implies that he does not care about his children. Nonetheless, Hermes takes his duties as a god very seriously, rather unlike Apollo and Dionysus, who take their duties and responsibilities in a much lighter manner. As a result, Hermes will not breach his divine duties, even to save his own children, since not even he can defy the Fates, as attempting to do so would only make matters worse. All in all, Hermes is by far one of the most reasonable and beneficial Olympians.

## Mercury

*Main article: Mercury*
Hermes can change into his Roman counterpart of Mercury. As Mercury, he becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike like most Roman counterparts of Greek gods become. He has children and descendants at Camp Jupiter in San Francisco. As shown in *The Blood of Olympus*, Mercury's children, much like Hermes's, have a penchant for mischievous pranks and theft.

## Abilities

As a son of Zeus, Hermes is an extremely powerful god. Due to vast influence and countless domains, Hermes draws on the worship and powers greater then most if not all gods bar the Big Three.

* **Several Enhanced Skills**: Hermes is perhaps the most versatile Olympian to be the god of so many diverse things: roads, shepherds, thieves, travelers, hospitality, heralds, diplomacy, trade, language, writing, money, athletics, swordsmanship, and has high intelligence with inventions and alchemy. Because of all these skills, Hermes could be described as a *Jack of all trades*, a title Luke once used when describing the children of Hermes.
* **Strength**: Hermes has great physical prowess, as shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, when he lifted Chelone's entire house, and hurled it at her, turning her into the first turtle.
* **Swordsmanship**: As revealed in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hermes received a mighty sword from his brother Apollo in exchange for his flute. Hermes's sword is made of adamantine and Imperial Gold, and is extremely sharp. This implies excellent swordsmanship skills on Hermes's part. Apparently, these skills were later inherited by Hermes's son Luke.
* **Enhanced Speed**: As the God of Travel and messengers, Hermes is extremely fast and can travel at supersonic speeds, faster than most other gods, due to his winged shoes.
* **Teleportation**: As seen in *Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes*, Hermes can disappear in a cloud of smoke.
* **Transgressing Realms**: As the messenger of the gods, Hermes can freely go to the realm of any god without an invitation, including the Underworld, as it is his duty to guide newly deceased souls there.
* **Enhanced Thievery**: As the God of Thieves, Hermes has a supernatural way of stealing things without others noticing, even other Olympians, such as when he stole Apollo's cattle as a child in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*.
* **Clauditiskinesis**: As the god of thieves, Hermes can sense the internal structure and mechanisms of any lock he touches, and is always able to make it unlock. He can do this telekinetically. Luke shows this skill in *The Diary of Luke Castellan*.
	+ **Lock Intuition**: Hermes can instantly identify curses and traps placed on locks, and deactivate them.
* **Money Manipulation**: Since Hermes is the god of merchants, he can easily manipulate money and the stock market. In, Hermes's son Luke is shown to have inherited this ability. His other sons Connor and Travis also seem to have inherited this ability, as they are known for always winning in poker games.
* **Athletics**: As the god of athletics, Hermes has a naturally enhanced athletic ability.
* **Inventions**: Hermes is an unbelievable inventor only surpassed by his half-brother Hephaestus and rivaled by his half-sister Athena. He invented the lyre and flute in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, and even claims in *The Sea of Monsters* to have invented the Internet.
* **Ancient Greek Alchemy**: According to Luke in *The Diary of Luke Castellan*, Hermes is a very adept alchemist. Hermes's proficiency is connected with his *Hermes Trismegistus* ("Hermes Thrice-Greatest") title.
* **Power of Persuasion**: As the god of communication he is honored as the patron of eloquence. In *The Lost Hero*, Annabeth mentions that Hermes can be "very convincing," but whether or not this is similar to Aphrodite's charmspeak is unknown. Luke may have also inherited this, as Daedalus mentions in *The Battle of the Labyrinth* that Luke can be very convincing. Connor and Travis may have also inherited this, as in *The Titan's Curse*, they were convincing Nico di Angelo that poker was a better game than Mythomagic.
* **Intelligence**: As revealed in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hermes is shrewd and formidably intelligent - he successfully stole Apollo's cattle, and later on not only appeased his brother's wrath through offering him the lyre, but he also acquired numerous magical gifts from his brother by trading him the flute. Hence, Hermes was the one to gift Pandora with deceitfulness.
* **Transfiguration**: In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Hermes transformed the stubborn nymph Chelone into a turtle.
* **Prophecy:** As revealed in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Apollo granted Hermes the power to predict the future by throwing dice, which might have been how Hermes knew some of Luke's fate.
* **Audiokinesis**: Since Hermes is the god of communication and has the power of persuasion, he can sing really well and persuade people with his singing as well. This is much like how Piper McLean can sing and put charmspeak in her voice.

## Attributes

Hermes's attributes are his caduceus, winged sandals, winged golden helmet, and his mighty golden sword. According to *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, the god's sword is made of adamant and Imperial Gold, and is extremely sharp. Though the caduceus, sandals, and sword initially belonged to Apollo, he, admittedly, never used them, and readily gave them to Hermes in exchange for his younger brother's lyre and flute. Hermes's sacred animals are the ram, tortoise, and rooster.

## Attendants

Hermes has two loyal attendants - the snakes George and Martha, who remain coiled around his caduceus at all times.

## Symbol of Power

*Main article: Caduceus*
The caduceus, also known as a herald's wand, is Hermes's symbol of power. It appears as a winged golden staff, though Hermes usually keeps in phone form. It has two intertwined snakes named George and Martha, who can extend to full form when the caduceus is completely extended; the snakes' names are possibly from George Washington and his wife Martha Dandridge Washington, or more likely from the two main characters of the play "*Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,*" a married couple who are frequently venomous towards each other.

## Trivia

* Hermes is the only god that can travel between the Underworld, Olympus, and the mortal world freely.
* Hermes was also the only Greek god to be mentioned in *The Kane Chronicles*.
* The caduceus is often confused with the Staff of Asclepius, which is a sign of healing, whilst the caduceus is not.
* Hermes is the fastest Olympian god.
* As he is the god of invention, Hermes claims that he invented the Internet.
* Hermes appears in one of Aesop's Fables entitled "The Honest Woodcutter". In it, he gives a woodcutter who lost his axe two new golden and silver ones in addition to his own when he honestly which one is the one he lost. He also refused to give any axes to another woodcutter who lied saying the golden one was the ax he lost.
* Despite the bubble wrap Annabeth finds in *The Mark of Athena* being exactly what she needs, it is unknown how long ago Hermes left the box there, if he left it there intentionally at all.
* Hermes's proficiency in alchemy is connected with his other form known as *Hermes Trismegistus* ("Hermes Thrice-Greatest"), which is a form shared with the Egyptian god Thoth.
* In *The Blood of Olympus* Hermes is seen after the battle with the Giants in Athens, trying to put his arm around Athena, though the annoyed goddess promptly scares him off with her Aegis shield. The implies unrequited feeling for her on his part.
* In *The Hidden Oracle*, it is mentioned that Hermes likes to sit in the back of the bus (the disguised Sun Chariot) with Apollo.