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HermodIn Norse mythology, Hermd the Brave (Old Norse Hermr 'Courage-Battle') appears clearly among the gods only in Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning where Hermd is the messenger sent by Odin to find out what ransom Hel would accept to return Baldur to Asgard. Hermd is there called "son" of Odin in most manuscripts, but in the Codex Regius version—the Codex Regius is normally considered the best manuscript—Hermd is called sveinn ins 'Odin's boy', which might mean Odin's son but in the context is as likely to mean Odin's servant. However Hermd in a later passage is called Balder's brother and also appears as son of Odin in a list of Odin's sons. See Sons of Odin. Hermd rode Odin's horse Sleipnir for nine nights though deep and dark valleys to the Gjll bridge covered with shining gold, the bridge being guarded by the maiden Mdgud 'Battle-frenzy' or 'Battle-tired'. Mdgud told Hermd that Baldur had already crossed the bridge and that Hermd should ride downwards and northwards. Upon coming to Hel's gate, Hermd dismounted, tightened Sleipnir's girth, mounted again, and spurred Sleipir so that Sleipnir leapt entirely over the gate. So at last Hermd came to Hel's hall and saw Baldur seated in the most honorable seat. Hermd begged Hel to release Baldur, citing the great weeping for Baldur among the Aesir. Thereupon Hel announced that Baldur would only be released if all things, dead and alive, wept for him. Baldur gave Hermd the ring Draupnir which had been burned with him on his pyre, to take back to Odin. Nanna gave a linen robe for Frigg along with other gifts and a finger-ring for Fulla. Thereupon Hermd returned to the upper world with his message. The name Hermd seems to be applied to a mortal hero in the eddic poem Hyndluljd (stanza 2): The favor of Heerfather seek we to find,
To his followers gold he gladly gives;
To Hermd gave he helm and mail-coat,
And to Sigmund he gave a sword as gift.
Heerfather is a name for Odin.
In the skaldic poem Hkonarml (stanza 14) Hermd and Bragi appear in Valhalla receiving Hkon the Good. It is not certain that either Hermd or Bragi is intended to be a god in this poem. In the Old English poem Beowulf, Heremod is the name of a Danish king who was driven into exile and in Old English genealogies Heremod appears appropriately as one of the descendants of Sceaf and usually as the father of Scyld. Accordingly it is debated whether Hermd might not have been the name of one or more ancient heroes or kings as well as the name of a god or whether the god mentioned by Snorri was in origin the same as an ancient hero or king named Hermd. In Beowulf Heremod is first mentioned by a bard immediately after the bard tells an episode from the life of the hero Sigmund and his nephew Fitela. In the Old Norse Eirksml it is Sigmund and his nephew Sinfjtli (= Fitela) who are sent to greet the dead King Eirk Bloodaxe and welcome him to Valhalla while in the Hkonarml it is Bragi and Hermd who are sent to greet King Hkon the Good in the same situation, suggesting an equivalence between the two was seen. In the Hyndluld (stanza 2) Hermd and Sigmund are again paralleled: To Hermd gave he helm and mail-coat,
And to Sigmund he gave a sword as gift.
That the apparently villainous Heremod of Beowulf could also be honored as a great hero is not as unusual as it may seem, though for a hero to outreach himself and die in shame is indeed more common in Greek mythology where, for example the hero Theseus of Athens, the greatest of the Athenian mythology heroes, was driven also into exile by his people and was murdered treacherously. Dr. Rydberg equates Hermod with Odr, Freya's husband. See also Heremod.
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