Hermes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
messageforyou) wrote2022-08-12 01:36 am
messageforyou) wrote2022-08-12 01:36 am
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Hermes
In mythological canon, Hermes can be described as one of the more chill gods, since there are few to no stories of him cursing humans, pursuing vendettas, or aggressively chasing women who wanted nothing to do with him. (And, in fact, there are stories of him actively giving people permission to lie about him in a way that makes them look good and him look bad.)
In Hades canon, Hermes is possibly the most straightforwardly nice Olympian Zagreus meets, since he never forces Zagreus to choose between him and another god, never grants a boon to an enemy, and actually knows the full story and still chooses to help.
But just because he's chill and doesn't have fits of petty rage doesn't mean Hermes is harmless. Hermes is a trickster, and thus deals a lot in lies of omission, half-truths, and clever manipulations. He doesn't often lie outright, since an outright lie can be called out and put him in a bind, but he's very good at skirting boundaries. He keeps his cards close to his chest, rarely reveals everything he knows, and focuses mainly on doing his job and keeping the people he cares about out of trouble.
In Hades canon, Hermes is possibly the most straightforwardly nice Olympian Zagreus meets, since he never forces Zagreus to choose between him and another god, never grants a boon to an enemy, and actually knows the full story and still chooses to help.
But just because he's chill and doesn't have fits of petty rage doesn't mean Hermes is harmless. Hermes is a trickster, and thus deals a lot in lies of omission, half-truths, and clever manipulations. He doesn't often lie outright, since an outright lie can be called out and put him in a bind, but he's very good at skirting boundaries. He keeps his cards close to his chest, rarely reveals everything he knows, and focuses mainly on doing his job and keeping the people he cares about out of trouble.
appearance
Hermes is a classically beautiful man with a body like a Greek statue and a face that belongs in a boy band. But that's almost a prerequisite for being an Olympian. What's more notable is that he has wings that grow from his head and his feet. The wings are big, feathered, and mostly orange with yellow and flecks of pink.
abilities
background
CW: Greek Myth-typical sexual assault and violence.
Greek myths, by the nature of being myths, are convoluted and self-contradictory a lot of the time. Hades canon makes it more complicated because it tries to retcon some of the grosser parts of the stories and humanize other parts. So this Frankenstein hybrid is my take on Hermes' Hades history:
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia. Maia was said to be the most beautiful of the Pleiades, and she actively avoided the company of Olympians. Unfortunately, Zeus was not known to accept people's disinterest, and he found her in the cave she hid away in and raped her. Maia stayed hidden in that cave and gave birth to Hermes.
Hermes was a precocious child, and from the moment he was born he was aware of his surroundings and capable of speech. His mother, hating and loving the child she bore unwillingly, warned him that the queen of Olympus would likely destroy him once she found out he existed. Hermes, realizing his own mother's mixed feelings for him when she was reluctant to nurse, made a plan to ingratiate himself to Hera and cinch a place on Olympus.
On his first day of life, he killed a turtle and invented the lyre. On his second day of life, he stole Apollo's sacred cattle, setting it up to hide the culprit of the crime as long as possible. He sacrificed two of the cattle, one to Zeus and one to Hera. When Apollo finally discovered him, Apollo brought him to Olympus to go before their father and demand recompense.
Please imagine, for a moment, a really angry grown man holding a two-day old baby and yelling about how it stole his stuff.
Zeus figured out that Hermes had actually been the thief, but everyone was too busy laughing at Apollo to actually do anything about it. Hermes leveraged Hera's dislike for Apollo, waxing poetic about how as the wife of his father, he considered her a mother in spirit, and Hera (in the heat of her laughter and spite for Apollo) accepted Hermes as a foster son, securing Hermes relative safety and a place in Olympus.
His goal achieved, Hermes gave Apollo back the remaining cattle and gave him the lyre he invented in exchange for the sacrificed bulls. Hera had mixed feelings about accepting one of her husband's bastards as a foster son after the laughter subsided, but she couldn't go back on her word. To avoid invoking her ire and recognizing Hermes' natural speed, Zeus made Hermes the divine messenger so that he would be off the mountain as much as possible.
Hermes took to his job well, and saw Maia only once more to tell her what he'd done. She said that with a foster mother, that he didn't need her anymore, and he was more savvy than she'd ever hoped for. Out of respect for the mother who hates and loves him, Hermes has not spoken to Maia since and only leaves the odd letter outside of her cave letting her know what's happening with him. He has no idea if she actually reads the letters. He won't say it to anyone, but to this day he wonders if he had to take Hera as a mother to survive, or if that was just giving up on his own mother after two days.
Ever since, Hermes kept to his duties acting as messenger, and did his best to keep most people at arm's length, too clever to put his guard down. He did odd jobs for his father, but the biggest one was saving and guiding baby Dionysus after his mortal mother was killed by one of Hera's tricks and Zeus' carelessness. Hermes saw to it that his little brother was protected and gave him guidance for how to secure his own place in Olympus as well.
Overall, Hermes loved his family but kept them mostly at arm's length, only really close with Charon the Boatman... until a surprisingly kind, sincere, and tenacious cousin from the Underworld made himself known. And after a lot of effort and a metric ton of gifts, Hermes has to admit that his cousin is one of his best friends now.
Hades is set after the events of the Trojan War, and during the period where Persephone was missing and Demeter didn't know where she was (please don't ask me how those timelines can match up when there were seasons in the Iliad). Thus, Hermes is in an amorphous time where certain mythological stories have happened and others haven't; I've chosen as a character for him not to have biological kids yet.
Greek myths, by the nature of being myths, are convoluted and self-contradictory a lot of the time. Hades canon makes it more complicated because it tries to retcon some of the grosser parts of the stories and humanize other parts. So this Frankenstein hybrid is my take on Hermes' Hades history:
Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia. Maia was said to be the most beautiful of the Pleiades, and she actively avoided the company of Olympians. Unfortunately, Zeus was not known to accept people's disinterest, and he found her in the cave she hid away in and raped her. Maia stayed hidden in that cave and gave birth to Hermes.
Hermes was a precocious child, and from the moment he was born he was aware of his surroundings and capable of speech. His mother, hating and loving the child she bore unwillingly, warned him that the queen of Olympus would likely destroy him once she found out he existed. Hermes, realizing his own mother's mixed feelings for him when she was reluctant to nurse, made a plan to ingratiate himself to Hera and cinch a place on Olympus.
On his first day of life, he killed a turtle and invented the lyre. On his second day of life, he stole Apollo's sacred cattle, setting it up to hide the culprit of the crime as long as possible. He sacrificed two of the cattle, one to Zeus and one to Hera. When Apollo finally discovered him, Apollo brought him to Olympus to go before their father and demand recompense.
Please imagine, for a moment, a really angry grown man holding a two-day old baby and yelling about how it stole his stuff.
Zeus figured out that Hermes had actually been the thief, but everyone was too busy laughing at Apollo to actually do anything about it. Hermes leveraged Hera's dislike for Apollo, waxing poetic about how as the wife of his father, he considered her a mother in spirit, and Hera (in the heat of her laughter and spite for Apollo) accepted Hermes as a foster son, securing Hermes relative safety and a place in Olympus.
His goal achieved, Hermes gave Apollo back the remaining cattle and gave him the lyre he invented in exchange for the sacrificed bulls. Hera had mixed feelings about accepting one of her husband's bastards as a foster son after the laughter subsided, but she couldn't go back on her word. To avoid invoking her ire and recognizing Hermes' natural speed, Zeus made Hermes the divine messenger so that he would be off the mountain as much as possible.
Hermes took to his job well, and saw Maia only once more to tell her what he'd done. She said that with a foster mother, that he didn't need her anymore, and he was more savvy than she'd ever hoped for. Out of respect for the mother who hates and loves him, Hermes has not spoken to Maia since and only leaves the odd letter outside of her cave letting her know what's happening with him. He has no idea if she actually reads the letters. He won't say it to anyone, but to this day he wonders if he had to take Hera as a mother to survive, or if that was just giving up on his own mother after two days.
Ever since, Hermes kept to his duties acting as messenger, and did his best to keep most people at arm's length, too clever to put his guard down. He did odd jobs for his father, but the biggest one was saving and guiding baby Dionysus after his mortal mother was killed by one of Hera's tricks and Zeus' carelessness. Hermes saw to it that his little brother was protected and gave him guidance for how to secure his own place in Olympus as well.
Overall, Hermes loved his family but kept them mostly at arm's length, only really close with Charon the Boatman... until a surprisingly kind, sincere, and tenacious cousin from the Underworld made himself known. And after a lot of effort and a metric ton of gifts, Hermes has to admit that his cousin is one of his best friends now.
Hades is set after the events of the Trojan War, and during the period where Persephone was missing and Demeter didn't know where she was (please don't ask me how those timelines can match up when there were seasons in the Iliad). Thus, Hermes is in an amorphous time where certain mythological stories have happened and others haven't; I've chosen as a character for him not to have biological kids yet.
family
CW: Greek Myth-typical sexual assault and violence.
(This is not the One True Interpretation of the Olympic family tree. This is just what makes sense to me, given who shows up in whose origin myths.)
Family Tree Here
The birth order of children of Zeus are as follows:
Athena (daughter of Zeus and Metis; the Fates predicted that Zeus' son by Metis would overthrow him, so when she was pregnant, he tricked her into turning into a fly and swallowed her. Thus she gave birth to Athena inside of his head and Athena burst from his temple.)
Artemis and Apollo (children of Zeus and Leto; Hera forbade any land from giving her shelter to birth, so she wandered to a floating island and gave birth there.)
Ares (son of Zeus and Hera; apparently they also had the daughters Hebe and Eileithyia, but they're not Olympians, so we don't talk about them.)
Hermes (son of Maia and Zeus; see more stuff about his origin in the previous box.)
Hephaestus (son of Zeus and Hera; Hera threw him from the mountain when she saw how ugly he was on birth, and he was raised by Thetis. After Drama, he came back to the mountain, only to be thrown off the mountain again by Zeus this time when Hephaestus sided with Hera in an argument. This final fall permanently disabled Hephaestus.)
Dionysus (son of Zeus and Semele, a princess of Thebes; Hera tricked Zeus into murdering Semele after she gave birth to Dionysus, and Hermes was tasked with taking baby Dionysus away and hiding him from Hera. Dionysus eventually grew up to show off his power to his mortal family and eventually brutally murder his uncle who insisted on calling his dead mom the Greek equivalent of a 'stupid whore.')
Zeus had more kids by more people, but the rest of them are either mortals or minor gods that don't show up much in stories.
(This is not the One True Interpretation of the Olympic family tree. This is just what makes sense to me, given who shows up in whose origin myths.)
Family Tree Here
The birth order of children of Zeus are as follows:
Athena (daughter of Zeus and Metis; the Fates predicted that Zeus' son by Metis would overthrow him, so when she was pregnant, he tricked her into turning into a fly and swallowed her. Thus she gave birth to Athena inside of his head and Athena burst from his temple.)
Artemis and Apollo (children of Zeus and Leto; Hera forbade any land from giving her shelter to birth, so she wandered to a floating island and gave birth there.)
Ares (son of Zeus and Hera; apparently they also had the daughters Hebe and Eileithyia, but they're not Olympians, so we don't talk about them.)
Hermes (son of Maia and Zeus; see more stuff about his origin in the previous box.)
Hephaestus (son of Zeus and Hera; Hera threw him from the mountain when she saw how ugly he was on birth, and he was raised by Thetis. After Drama, he came back to the mountain, only to be thrown off the mountain again by Zeus this time when Hephaestus sided with Hera in an argument. This final fall permanently disabled Hephaestus.)
Dionysus (son of Zeus and Semele, a princess of Thebes; Hera tricked Zeus into murdering Semele after she gave birth to Dionysus, and Hermes was tasked with taking baby Dionysus away and hiding him from Hera. Dionysus eventually grew up to show off his power to his mortal family and eventually brutally murder his uncle who insisted on calling his dead mom the Greek equivalent of a 'stupid whore.')
Zeus had more kids by more people, but the rest of them are either mortals or minor gods that don't show up much in stories.