Character
HermesMercury in this translation
Messenger of the gods · guide of the dead
The messenger god, who does the errands the plot turns on: carrying Zeus's order that Calypso must let Odysseus go, and meeting him on Circe's island to hand him the herb moly, the only protection against her drugs. He is also the guide of the dead, and in the last book he leads the suitors' ghosts down squeaking like bats. Butler calls him Mercury.
The herb is given only its divine name: the gods call it Moly, and Homer says mortal men cannot pull it from the ground. A black root and a milk-white flower is the whole description we get.