Hypnos/Somnus

**Hypnos** (meaning "sleep") is the god of sleep. He is the son of Nyx and Erebos. His Roman counterpart is **Somnus**.

## Basic Info

### Alias

God of Sleep, Son of Nyx and Erebus, Twin of Thanatos, Dad (By his children)

## Family Info

### Siblings

* Thanatos (twin brother)
* Moros, Oneiroi, Momus, Geras, Dolos, Ponos, Epiphron, (Brothers)
* Keres, Oizys, Hesperides, Moirai, Nemesis, Apate, Philotes, Styx, Euphrosyne, Continentia, Petulantia, Misericordia, Pertinacia (Sisters)
* Nancy Campbell (Maternal half-sister)
* Ethan Reyes (Paternal half-brother)

### Offspring

Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos (immortal sons)Joshua and Hayley Robles (Demigod children)

### Extended Family

George Flores, Isaiah Castor, and Eustace Mizéria (nephews)Juniper Noveschosch, Amelia Cappello, Lilly Miller, Clara Astilla, Natalie Smith, Isabella Thompson, Emma Jones, Agatha Diaz (Nieces)

## History

### Early Life

Hypnos lived next to his twin brother, Thanatos (Θάνατος, "death") in the Underworld, where the rays of the sun never reach them. Hypnos' mother was Nyx (Νύξ, "Night"), the goddess of Night, without a father. However, sometimes he was the son of Nyx and Erebus, the god of Darkness. Nyx was a dreadful and powerful goddess, and even Zeus feared to enter her realm. His wife, Pasithea, was one of the youngest of the Charites and was promised to him by Hera, who is the goddess of marriage and birth

Long before the Trojan War, Hera was angry at Hercules, and she persuaded Hypnos to make Zeus sleep while she tormented the hero. Hypnos did as he was told. When Zeus awoke, he was furious. He searched for Hypnos and finally found him hiding in the arms of his mother, Nyx. Zeus overcame his anger and simply warned Hypnos not to try such a trick again, and Hypnos went unpunished.

### Hypnos In *The Iliad*

Hypnos used his powers to trick Zeus. Hypnos was able to trick him and help the Danaans win the Trojan War. During the war, Hera loathed her brother and husband, Zeus, so she devised a plot to trick him. She decided that in order to trick him she needed to make him so enamoured with her that he would fall for the trick. So she washed herself with ambrosia and anointed herself with oil, made especially for her to make herself impossible for Zeus to resist. She wove flowers through her hair, put on three brilliant pendants for earrings, and donned a wondrous robe. She then called for Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and asked her for a charm that would ensure that her trick would not fail. In order to procure the charm, however, she lied to Aphrodite because they sided on opposite sides of the war. She told Aphrodite that she wanted the charm to help herself and Zeus stop fighting. Aphrodite willingly agreed. Hera was almost ready to trick Zeus, but she needed the help of Hypnos, who had tricked Zeus once before.

Hera called on Hypnos and asked him to help her by putting Zeus to sleep. Hypnos was reluctant because the last time he had put the god to sleep, he was furious when he awoke. It was Hera who had asked him to trick Zeus the first time as well. She was furious that Heracles, Zeus' son, sacked the city of the Trojans. So she had Hypnos put Zeus to sleep, and set blasts of angry winds upon the sea while Heracles was still sailing home. When Zeus awoke he was furious and went on a rampage looking for Hypnos. Hypnos managed to avoid Zeus by hiding with his mother, Nyx. This made Hypnos reluctant to accept Hera's proposal and help her trick Zeus again. Hera first offered him a beautiful golden seat that can never fall apart and a footstool to go with it. He refused this first offer, remembering the last time he tricked Zeus. Hera finally got him to agree by promising that he would be married to Pasithea, one of the youngest Graces, whom he had always wanted to marry. Hypnos made her swear by the river Styx and call on gods of the underworld to be witnesses so that he would be ensured that he would marry Pasithea

Hera went to see Zeus on Gargarus, the topmost peak of Mount Ida. Zeus was extremely taken by her and suspected nothing as Hypnos was shrouded in a thick mist and hidden upon a pine tree that was close to where Hera and Zeus were talking. Zeus asked Hera what she was doing there and why she had come from Olympus, and she told him the same lie she told Aphrodite. She told him that she wanted to go help her parent stop quarrelling and she stopped there to consult him because she didn't want to go without his knowledge and have him be angry with her when he found out. Zeus said that she could go any time, and that she should postpone her visit and stay there with him so they could enjoy each other's company. He told her that he was never in love with anyone as much as he loved her at that moment. He took her in his embrace and Hypnos went to work putting him to sleep, with Hera in his arms. While this went on, Hypnos travelled to the ships of the Achaeans to tell Poseidon, God of the Sea, that he could now help the Danaans and give them a victory while Zeus was sleeping. This is where Hypnos leaves the story, leaving Poseidon eager to help the Danaans. Thanks to Hypnos helping to trick Zeus, the war changed its course to Hera's favour, and Zeus never found out that Hypnos had tricked him one more time.

### Hypnos and Endymion

Although Hypnos was not one of the most active gods of that time, he was famous for the role he had played in the story of Endymion and Selene, the Titaness of the Moon. When Endymion was granted immortality and eternal youth by means of endless sleep, he received the power to sleep with his eyes open by Hypnos so he could constantly watch his beloved Selene. The reason Hypnos granted him this gift was because the god of sleep loved the young king/prince/shepherd and thus could always gaze in his beautiful eyes.

## Personality

Though not a villain or immoral, Hypnos is far from being the most responsible or honorable god to exist. He has been said to do nothing much but sleep and did not play a role in the last Second Olympian War, implying that he is a lazy god (if not the laziest). He also shows to be very cowardly in the past, having hid himself in his mother's arms to avoid Zeus' anger, and when Hera requested his assistance against Zeus yet again, Hypnos only complies when she swore to give him Pasithea's hand in marriage. He was also described to have used his power immaturely when he was a child, much to the other gods' chagrin.

## Appearance

Hypnos has the same teakwood skin as his brother. It's unknown if he has the same physical size and musculature of his brother, though, as Hypnos is said to be quite lazy, but it's been worth to notice that he's a shapeshifter. He is often shown with small wings on his head. Hayley also notes that she looks widely different from her father (with Hayley being Asian and her father having much darker skin)

## Powers and Abilities

### God Powers

Despite being a minor god and very lazy, Hypnos seems to be much more powerful than his status and antics lead others to believe he really is, likely because he's a child of Nyx, a protogenos.

* He possesses the standard powers of a god.
* **Flight**: Through levitation or his wings Hypnos has the ability to fly.
* **Hypnokinesis**: As the god of sleep, he has divine authority over sleep. This power allows him to induce sleep, visions and even manipulate dreams in a way very similar to that of his son Morpheus, but to a much more powerful degree. While it took Morpheus great effort to send Los Angeles into sleep (and even then needing Hecate's help), Hypnos has been known to use this power against far more powerful beings, in which even Zeus himself (the King of the Gods and one of the Big Three) has proven on two different occasions in the myths to be susceptible to Hypnos' power.
* **Hallucikinesis**: As he is the god of sleep, he has divine authority over dreams. Though he has divine authority over illusions too.
* **Shapeshifting**: Hypnos can change his appearance into anything that he wants to be, and has been known to turn into a small bird in the past.
* **Umbrakinesis**: As he is the son of Nyx and Erebos, he has some power over darkness but to a much lesser degree than his mother Nyx.

## Somnus

The Roman form of Hypnos is known as Somnus. While Hypnos is the god of sleep and did not do much in Greek mythology, Hayley, Hypnos' daughter, explains that Somnus would kill people that fell asleep at their posts, such as Palinurus; the helmsman of Aeneas, a Trojan hero. Hayley uses her father as an example of how the Roman and Greek gods, while still the same could be very different from each other.

## Trivia

1. Somnolence, which is a state of near-sleep or desire for sleep, is named after his Roman counterpart Somnus. Also, somnambulation means sleepwalking (ambulant means *having walked* in Latin).
2. Disorders like hypersomnia and insomnia are named after his Roman counterpart Somnus.
3. The words hypnotize and hypnosis comes from the god's Greek name.
4. Hypnos is one of a few gods who is a twin, the others being
	1. Artemis and Apollo - Children of Zeus and Leto
	2. Iris and Arke - Daughters of Thaumas and Electra
	3. Ploutos and Philomelos - Sons of Demeter and the demigod Iasion.
	4. Despoina and Arion - Goddess and immortal horse, children of Demeter and Poseidon.
	5. Prometheus and Epimetheus - Sons of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene.
5. He has managed to trick Zeus around three times