HermIris

HermIris
GENERAL
Fantasia
Hercules
Camp Half-Blood Chronicles
Character	Hermes
Character	Iris (Greek Mythology)
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Fellow Messengers Friends/One-sided rivalry on Iris' side (Camp Half-Blood)
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Het

1

HermIris is the het ship between Hermes and Iris from Greek Mythology.

Canon

Hermes and Iris are both gods of the Greek pantheon, though Hermes is a major god as one of the Olympians, Iris is a very minor goddess. They both act as messengers to the other gods, with an ancient depiction showing Zeus send out both Hermes and Iris simultaneously. Another cup shows Hermes present at the scene where Iris is being assaulted by Dionysus' satyrs after trying to steal from his altar, though Hermes is on the other side of the cup, seemingly trying to defend his stepmother Hera from also being attacked by the satyrs. Though most of these show both Hermes and Iris as adults, one vase dated to the classical period shows Iris nursing an infant Hermes whilst flying with him in her arms.

Within writing, though Iris and Hermes are active at the same time, they're never mentioned in the same paragraph. Notably, though both appear in Homer's The Iliad, Iris is never mentioned in The Odyssey while Hermes appears multiple times. Both are associated with thieves, Iris seemingly tried to steal from Dionysus, Hermes is the patron god of thieves. In their role of messengers, both are often depicted with wings, though Iris has wings on her back, Hermes has winged feet.

Camp Half-Blood Chronicles

Within the series, Hermes and Iris are given distinction in their roles as messengers, Iris is in charge of the messages send by throwing drachma coins into a rainbow (basically the demigod version of video calls), Hermes works as a modern-day postman.

The Sea of Monsters has the first physical appearance of Hermes in the books, he off-handedly mentions that he and Iris are on good terms with each other since they're both messengers. In The Last Olympian it is mentioned that Iris' children used to be sorted into the Hermes cabin like most children of minor gods, but Percy campaigning for fair treatment for all demigod children led to them recieving their own Iris cabin.

However, The Senior Year Adventures series reveals that Iris still holds a grudge against Hermes in The Chalice of the Gods, since he supposedly caused her to lose her position as the main messenger of the gods. She reveals that Hermes got that position after he was born, so Iris is confirmed to be a bit older than Hermes.

Fanon

HermIris is a rarepair in all fandoms it appears in. Despite their general lack of interaction in any continuity, fanartists like the idea of depicting them as friends or lovers due to their shared role. At least one fanartist had made a fankid for them named "Hermiris", possibly inspired by Hermaphrodite.

The Disney version of these characters stands in a weird position where it is and isn't a crossover, as it involves blending the Fantasia version of Iris with the Hercules version of Hermes.

Despite its status as a rarepair, it is reportedly in the Top 5 of Hermes' most popular ships. However, the tumblr blog "pjo-ship-polls" reveals that most fans feel fairly indifferent towards the pairing.

Many people ignore or are possibly unaware of the implication that Iris was a mother figure for Hermes and knew him since he was a baby, oftentimes, a romance between them starts when both of them are adults, sometimes having them be the same age.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Hermes/Iris tag on AO3

Hermes/Iris (Disney) tag on AO3

Hermes/Iris (Percy Jackson) tag on AO3

TUMBLR

HermIris tag on Tumblr