Hermes

Character

Quick-witted and quicker on his feet, Hermes is the one power genuinely comfortable moving between every boundary that matters — mortal and divine, living and dead, honest deal and clever theft — and he treats all three crossings as the same kind of errand.

Earning Favor

Hermes favors the clever over the strong, travelers who keep their wit about them, honest tradesmen and cunning thieves in equal measure, and anyone who can talk their way out of a situation rather than fight their way out.

Notable Relationships

• Father — Zeus; mother — Maia
• Half-brother — Apollo (from whom he won the lyre as an infant)
• Role — the only Olympian who freely crosses into the Underworld

Anecdote

On the very day of his birth, the infant Hermes slipped from his cradle and stole a herd of cattle belonging to Apollo, disguising the theft so completely that Apollo could not track him. When caught, the infant charmed his way out of punishment by inventing the lyre from a tortoise shell on the spot and gifting it to Apollo as recompense — turning a theft into a trade before he was even a day old, which the myths treat as the perfect origin for a god of both thieves and merchants.

Emblem & Companions

The caduceus (a herald's staff), the winged sandals (talaria) that grant flight, and a broad traveler's hat.

Real-World Sites

Crossroads shrines (herms) that stood throughout the Greek world as boundary-markers and waypoints in his honor, more numerous than any temple to another god.

Appears In

• The Pomegranate DeadFetches the party from Misthaven, pays Charon, and escorts them to Hades' throne room.
• The Laurels of OlympiaAppears disguised as the herald “Diaktoros.”
• The Witch of AeaeaAppears in mortal disguise to deliver a weather briefing; divine tells are detectable.
• Phaethon's ReinsA herm of Hermes is the source of the session's winged sandals.
• Sinbad and the Roc of SerendibAn optional NPC merchant is noted as Hermes-touched.