Hermes

**Hermes** is the Trickster God of Messengers, Travelers, Merchants, Athletes, and Thieves of the Greco-Roman Pantheon. He is also the God of Trade, Roads, Boundaries, Border-crossings, and Sports. He is the Messenger of the Gods, as well as the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon.

In Ancient Rome, he is worshipped as Mercury. In this form, he is more disciplined, militaristic, and war-like, much like the other Roman counterparts of gods. Although the Greeks saw Hermes as a crafty, cunning, and resourceful being, the Romans envisioned Mercury more as the god of commerce and trade rather than just being a god of thievery and travel.

He is a part of the Dii Consentes - The twelve most powerful and important gods of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, holding the Eleventh Throne and is responsible for the economic affairs of the Pantheon.

Like many of his Olympian brethren, Hermes also have several demigod children and legacies in both Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter.

## Overview

**Hermes**, the youngest of the Twelve Olympians, is the messenger of the gods in the ancient Greece. He is the offspring of Zeus and Maia, and also recognized as the patron of travelers, commerce, athletics, literature and poets, sometimes of healing and invention, even of thieves and liars.

He was well worshiped by the ancient Greeks and apparently his figure appeared in many of their myths. As an infant, he created the first chelys lyre, which he gifted to Apollo as compensation for stealing immortal cattle, who in return gave him the caduceus, a herald staff adorned with wings and entwined by two serpents, nowadays often used to symbolize medicine.

His main task is to aid travelers on their journey, and to guide the dead to the Underworld, where he could enter or leave without any hindrance. He is known to wear a winged hat (petasos) and winged sandals (talaria).

Hermes is the analogue of the Roman god, Mercurius. He has also been combined with the Egyptian god Thoth to become Hermes Trismegistus.

## Appearance

Hermes appears as a handsome young man in his 20s with long light-purple hair tied into a long ponytail and light-blue eyes. He is described as having an athletic figure, slim and fit, with elfish features and a sly grin. He also has a shorter stature compares with the other Olympians, being a head shorter.

He wears a winged pointed-hat similar to that of a traditional wizard, silver-and-blue robes and dark-blue dress pants, and a pair of silver-winged boots. He also wears a tattered dark-purple hooded-cloak. When he first appeared in Chapter XXX, he wore a "fancier version of a USPS mailman uniform" and sported winged shoes.

## Personality

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

His visits are often beneficial to gods and mortals alike, and he is known for often helping struggling heroes and demigods, though this is frequently at the request of other gods or personal motivations. He is also known as the friendliest to mankind.

He is shown as being quite playful and childish. He can be arrogant and boastful of his own power and authority as one of the Twelve Olympians, though his boasting is mainly for the sake of boasting and doesn't carry any ill-intention within them. He is also fairly talkative and has trouble keeping his mouth shut when gossiping with others, a trait unknown to him but is rather well-exploited by many other gods when they want exclusive information.

He tends to be one of the more clever and cunning of the gods, and is known for his deception, trickery, and craftiness. He is the divine patron of thieves and merchants, which Apollo has commented to not be much different from one another, and he is said to be the one who taught them how to cheat and lie. According to him, to understand how Athena's mind works is an easier task than to understand Hermes'.

He takes his duties as a god very seriously, rather unlike gods such as Apollo and Dionysus, who take their duties and responsibilities in a much lighter manner. As a result, he will not breach his divine duties, even to save his own children, since not even he can defy [Fate], as attempting to do so would only make matters worse.

### Roman Form

Hermes can change into his Roman counterpart of **Mercury**. As Mercury, he is more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. While the Greeks saw Hermes as a crafty, cunning, and resourceful being, the Romans envisioned Mercury more as the god of commerce and trade rather than just being a god of thievery and travel.

## History

#### Mythology

##### Birth and abducting Apollo's cattle

Hermes was born sometime after the First Titanomachy, son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the Pleiad Maia. (The god's place of birth was, acording to many sources, Mount Kyllini in northeastern Aracdia). 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 new born 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 anniversary. 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 cunning and 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 Gigas Hippolytos with the help of the mighty demigod Heracles.

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

##### Typhon

After Zeus' defeat in his first battle with the monstrous 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 Typhon'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 Graeae 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 Trojans 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.

## Powers & Abilities

As the son of Zeus and Maia - one of the Pleiades, Hermes is an extremely powerful god. Due to vast influence and countless domains, he draws on the worship and powers greater then most, if not all the Younger Olympians.

In the N.A.S.U Power Ranking System, Hermes is ranked as an A-Ranked Deity-Class being.

**Immense Divine Power:** Hermes is an immensely powerful god, being one of the most powerful deities of the Greco-Roman Pantheon. He can radiate an orange-colored aura that he can infuse with his weapons and attacks to raise their overall damage.

* **Advanced Telekinesis:** Like all other deities, he possesses the power of telekinesis - which allows him to control objects with only the forces of his mind.
* **Advanced Deus-Ergokinesis:** He can manipulate his divine energy, shaping it into various constructs such as swords and spears. In Chapter XXX, while fighting Typhon, he fired countless spears of divine energy at him, destroying the majority of Brooklyn in the process.
* **Power Bestowal:** He could grant various powers to individuals in the form of blessings, as long as these powers related to his domains.
* **Deification:** He can turn mortals into minor gods, with their domains being parts of those within his jurisdiction.
* **Teleportation:** He can teleport through a flash of gold light.
* **Astral Projection:** He can astral project himself, allows him to appear in multiple places at the same time.

**Immense Strength:** Hermes is an immensely powerful god, being regarded as one of the strongest within his generation of deities. He can lift over 500 tons of weight over his head single-handedly without any effort. He once through the house of the nymph Chelone after she refused to attend Zeus and Hera’s wedding anniversary.

**Immense Speed:** Hermes is considered one of the fastest gods in existence, capable of running at supersonic speeds with ease. When he wears his golden sandals Talaria, he can move faster than the speed of light itself and can run to locations faster than other gods’ teleportation. In Chapter XXX, Hermes moved at a speed that allowed him to collect every single weapon from the enemies’ hands within the battlefield, as well as drew mustaches on their faces at the same time, which was less than a second.

**Master Magician:** Hermes is an immensely powerful magic-wielder, knowing more than 1000 different Magic Systems, and mastered over 100,000 magic techniques. Personally trained by his step-mother Hera, he is one of the few non-Titans to be able to wield Titan Magic - an archaic Magic System that was created by the Titans and carries immense destructive powers.

* **Ancient Greek Alchemy:**  As the non-official Greco-Roman god of alchemy, he is extremely in-depth in the arts of alchemy, especially its Ancient Greek counterpart. He can create alchemical artifacts beyond the levels of even the most skilled alchemists and had created many works that revolutionized the art.
* **Potion:** He is a very skilled Potion Master, having created various types of magic potions, elixirs, and supernatural chemicals that are still widely used by the Greco-Roman Pantheon. One of his most notorious creations is the **Greek Fire**, which he later taught to his lover - Archimedes.

**Master Spearman:** Hermes is a very skilled spearman, using the tip of his Caduceus as a spear tip to attack against his opponents. His skill with the spear is said to be quite great, as he was able to defend against the combined attacks of both Ares and Enyo.

**Master Swordsman:** Hermes is very skilled with his divine sword Argeiphontes, and can defend against other War deities such as Ares and Athena with it.

**Master Thief:** As the god of thieves, Hermes is an extremely talented thief, capable of stealing and looting everything he desired. A few hours after his birth, he was able to successfully steal Apollon’s entire heard of cattle without said god ever noticed before it was too late.

* **Advanced Clauditiskinesis:** He can sense the internal structure and mechanisms of any kind of lock, both physical and digital, and is always able to make it unlock. He can also instantly identify curses and traps placed on locks, and deactivate them. In Chapter XXX, he unlocked the coded file on Circe’s laptop with just a wave of his hand.

**Master Inventor:** Hermes is an unbelievable master inventor, only be surpassed by his half-brother Hephaestus. He is the creator of the chelys lyre, the flute, the sports of racing and wrestling, and, apparently, the Internet.

**Master Athlete:** As the god of sports and athletes, Hermes is an incredible athlete, to the point where he was banned from the Divine Olympics just to give other competitors a chance to win.

**Advanced Communication Manipulation:** As the god of communication, Hermes has divine authority and control over communication - the act of conveying intended meanings from one to another, in all shapes and forms. He can also control the type of information being conveyed, altering it to his liking and even forbidden it to be conveyed by anyone weaker than him.

* **Pseudo-Omnilingualism:** He can understand, speak, and write any form of language, as long as they were created after his birth.
* **Divine Charisma:** He is an extremely charismatic deity, being the patron god of the art of eloquence. He can infuse his voice with divine energy, making whoever he is talking to fall under his charms and do whatever he commanded. However, if said person is strong-will enough, they will be able to resist his control. According to him, he developed this ability after personally saw how destructive and powerful Aphrodite’s Charmspeak can be.

**Keen Intellect:** Hermes is a very shrewd and cunning god, as he not only successfully stole Apollon’s cattle, and later on appeased his brother’s wrath through offering him the chelys, but he also acquired numerous magical artifacts from his brother by trading him the flute. He also gifted Pandora with slyness, cunning, and deceitfulness.

**Oikonomíakinesis:** As the god of commerce and trade, Hermes has divine authority and control over the economy. He can manipulate money, wealth, and anything related to them, such as properties and the stock market. In Chapter XXX, it was revealed that the Great Depression was entirely his fault, as he was angry that he lost to both Loki and Set several times in a row.

**Psychopomp Physiology:** As the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, Hermes possesses all the standard powers of a Psychopomp.

* **Death Sense:** He can sense the upcoming presence of death, and the actual act of dying. He can also perfectly sense the deceased, their cause of death, and their exact locations. In Chapter XXX, he sensed the death of Team Sigma over 10,000 miles away.
* **Soul Conduction:** He can conduct the souls of the recently deceased to follow him to the Greco-Roman Realm of the Dead, as well as making sure they correctly arrived at their designated locations in Hades.
* **Afterlife Transportation:** He can teleport to any locations in Hades without any problems, and can give his blessing to whoever journey down there that will protect them from any dangers on their trip.

**Prophecy:** As one of the gifts he received from Apollon, Hermes can predict the future by throwing dice.

**Invulnerability:** Hermes is impervious to all mortal weapons as only supernatural weaponry is capable of affecting him.

* **Immunity:** He is immune to most poisons and curses, and all forms of diseases due to her divinity. He is, however, susceptible to immensely powerful poisons of supernatural origins such as Hydra's Venom or Echidna's Brood.
* **Immortality:** As a Pagan deity, he can live indefinitely unless he is faded. Even when his mortal form is destroyed, he can just reincarnate into another body as long as he still has enough divine power.
* **Advanced Generation:** He can regenerate every single part of his body down to every single cell in mere minutes, making it nearly impossible to cause permanent harm to him.

**Flight:** Hermes can fly, both with and without the use of his winged shoes.

## Equipment

**Caduceus:** Caduceus is Hermes’ Symbol of Power, symbolizing his duties as the Psychopomp of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, as well as his numerous domains, such as trading, commerce, merchants, the roads, border-crossings, travelers, etc. It is a golden spear-like staff with two snakes entwined and a pair of wings right underneath the pointed head. It is a reforged of Apollon’s previous golden rod **Kerykeion**, made from a mixture of Adamantine, Chthonic Steel, and Orichalcum.

* **Transformation:** It can change into various forms depending on Hermes’ current needs. Some of its forms are a modern phone, a high-voltage cattle prod, a laser pointer, etc.
* **Sleep Inducement:** It can make people fall asleep, both instantaneously and naturally. In his myth with Argus, he used this power to make the Giant’s other 50 eyes fell asleep.
* **Awakening:** It can unlock hidden powers within someone. It can also wake someone from their sleep or comatose state. In Chapter XXX, Hermes unlocked Kieran’s Sacred Gear with just a gentle tap of the staff on his forehead.
* **Dead Inducement:** It can induce dead energy into monsters and mortals alike, killing them off gently and instantly. In Chapter XXX, Hermes unleashed a wave of dead energy into the Gorgon Army, killing them instantly.
* **Youth Inducement:** It can grant eternal youth to other mortal beings, allowing them to stay in the prime of their life for eternity. One of the prime examples for this power is Archimedes - the famous Ancient Greek engineer and inventor, who Hermes personally gifted with eternal youth and is currently governing the Lotus Hotel in Las Vegas under his commands.

**Argeiphontes:** Argeiphontes is a golden sword made out of Adamantine, and was gifted to Hermes by his brother Apollon. It is an extremely sharp sword, capable of cutting through all obstacles on his paths. He later used this sword to slay the Hundred-Eyed Giant Argus and rescued the princess Io from her captives.

**Talaria:** Talaria is Hermes’ famous winged shoes. It is a pair of winged sandals made out of Imperial Gold, with each sandal has two wings, which made up a total of four wings. It allows its wielder to fly in the air and boosted his already immense speed by hundreds of times. In the Modern Age, Hermes charmed them to make them appeared as a pair of expensive-looking shoes.

**Cloak of Hades:** Cloak of Hades is Hermes’ special cloak that allows him to travel across the world without being detected by any supernatural beings. It appeared as a black hooded-coat with intricate designs.

## Weaknesses

### Harming, Trapping, & Banishing

* **Witchcraft**: As witchcraft is a form of magic wielded by witches to oppose those of heavenly nature, pagan gods such as Hermes are susceptible by witchery. There are many witchery spells and rituals that can be used to trap, weaken, and hurt him, with some rituals rumored to be capable of even killing immortals such as the pagan gods.
* **Celestial Weapons**: Weapons made out of sacred metals, such as Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, can be used against the majority of supernatural beings, including pagan gods such as Hermes.
* **Lack of Worship & Offerings**: As a pagan god, Hermes gains more power from the prayers, offerings, and sacrifices from mortal devotees, and is dependent on it to maintain his immense divinity. If he stops gaining offerings from his loyal followers, his powers may become immensely weakened. Due to his essence being tied to the Western Civilization, he can gain power from those associated and symbolized by his divine domains, or associated with him or the myths surrounding him.
	+ Due to his status as a chthonic god, he can maintain and even strengthen his divinity by absorbing the spiritual energy of the souls of the deceased or of the Realm of the Dead itself.

### Killing

* **Divine Weapons**: The divine weapons of the gods, which are crafted from sacred metals and are imbued with their wielders' divinity, can be used to kill or injure fellow immortal gods like Hermes. However, due to his immense power, only a god’s Symbol of Power is capable of killing him.
* **Enochian Weapons**: Hermes can be killed using weapons made out of Enochian metals.
	+ **Longinus**: As the Longinus are Sacred Gears made out of Enochian metals of the highest-ranking, forged by Heavens' forges with the highest-quality Enochian technology and are imbued with fragments of the Biblical God's divinity, those with enough skills and experience can absolutely and permanently killed Hermes, to the point where he can never be reborn or resurrected again.
* **Faustian Weapons**: Hermes can be killed using weapons made out of Faustian metals.
* **Primordials' Weapons**: Weapons created and wielded by primordial entities can be used to permanently and absolutely obliterate every and any being in existence but other primordial entities, erasing their entire existence from the worlds so that they can never be reborn, or resurrected again without being saved by God's omnipotence.

## Trivia

* Before Hades rejoining the Twelve Olympians, he is the only chthonic god in the council.
* As a Messenger God, he and Iris are the only Greco-Roman gods that can travel between the Divine World and the Mortal World freely.
* The caduceus is often confused with the Staff of Asclepius, which is a sign of healing, whilst the caduceus is not.
* While both him and Nike are about as fast as each other, his winged shoes give him an advantage.
* As he is the god of invention, he claims that he invented the Internet.
* He likes to sit in the back of the bus (the disguised Sun Chariot) with Apollo.
* Mercury, the first planet from the sun, was named after him, as well as the element, Hg.
	+ 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.
* Thierry Hermès, founder of Hermès, was a demigod son of his and was said to have found company in his honor.
* His proficiency in alchemy is connected with the figure known as *Hermes Trismegistus* ("Hermes Thrice-Greatest"), which is a form shared with the Egyptian god Thoth.
* He 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.
* 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.