In Norse mythology, Hermód the Brave (Old Norse Hermóđr 'Courage-Battle') appears clearly among the gods only in Snorri Sturluson's Gylfaginning where Hermód is the messenger sent by Odin to find out what ransom Hel would accept to return Baldur to Asgard.
Hermód is there called "son" of Odin in most manuscripts, but in the Codex Regius version—the Codex Regius is normally considered the best manuscript—Hermód is called sveinn Óđins 'Odin's boy', which might mean Odin's son but in the context is as likely to mean Odin's servant. However Hermód 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.
Hermód rode Odin's horse Sleipnir for nine nights though deep and dark valleys to the Gjöll bridge covered with shining gold, the bridge being guarded by the maiden Módgud 'Battle-frenzy' or 'Battle-tired'. Módgud told Hermód that Baldur had already crossed the bridge and that Hermód should ride downwards and northwards.
Upon coming to Hel's gate, Hermód dismounted, tightened Sleipnir's girth, mounted again, and spurred Sleipir so that Sleipnir leapt entirely over the gate. So at last Hermód came to Hel's hall and saw Baldur seated in the most honorable seat. Hermód 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 Hermód 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 Hermód returned to the upper world with his message.
The name Hermód seems to be applied to a mortal hero in the eddic poem Hyndluljód (stanza 2):
The favor of Heerfather seek we to find,
To his followers gold he gladly gives;
To Hermód 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 Hákonarmál (stanza 14) Hermód and Bragi appear in Valhalla receiving Hákon the Good. It is not certain that either Hermód 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 Hermód 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 Hermód. 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 Eiríksmál it is Sigmund and his nephew Sinfjötli (= Fitela) who are sent to greet the dead King Eirík Bloodaxe and welcome him to Valhalla while in the Hákonarmál it is Bragi and Hermód who are sent to greet King Hákon the Good in the same situation, suggesting an equivalence between the two was seen. In the Hyndlulód (stanza 2) Hermód and Sigmund are again paralleled:
To Hermód 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.
