In Hesiod’s Pandora story, Hermes gives Pandora a deceptive character and persuasive speech. This detail appears in the account of Pandora’s creation in Works and Days, where Zeus directs several gods to equip the woman made for humanity.
Hermes is the Olympian messenger and a god associated with communication, cunning, boundaries, and trickery. His contribution fits the story’s emphasis on appearances and hidden danger. Pandora receives attractive and useful qualities from several gods, but the gifts also help make her a vehicle for Zeus’s punishment of humankind. Hesiod’s portrayal is therefore more morally charged than the modern image of Pandora as merely curious.
The myth distributes Pandora’s attributes among multiple deities. Hephaestus forms her, Athena teaches her crafts, Aphrodite gives her beauty, and Hermes supplies speech and a deceptive mind. Modern retellings often simplify this sequence and say only that the gods “gave” Pandora gifts. The original story is more specific about who contributes what.