Hu Tao — Genshin Impact Character Profile

Biography

The story, the personality, and everything in between.Read biographyClose biography

Genshin Impact

Hu Tao胡桃

77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Liyue

Hu Tao is a playable Pyro character in Genshin Impact and the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in Liyue Harbor. A gifted improvisational poet who gleefully unsettles her neighbors with morbid jokes and unusual salesmanship, she is also a conscientious keeper of funeral traditions. Her apparent frivolity disappears when a grieving family needs a dignified farewell; that deliberate contrast is central to her character.

Biography

A young director with an old responsibility

The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor arranges Liyue’s final rites and preserves customs surrounding the passage between life and death. Hu Tao inherits leadership of a deeply traditional institution at a young age. Her age and exuberance invite skepticism, but she knows its procedures and insists that undertakers respect the departed and the wishes of their families, regardless of wealth or standing.

She refuses to let ceremony become a matter of personal improvisation. Hu Tao brings in knowledgeable consultants to teach her staff, and the highly learned Zhongli is especially respected as a lecturer. Her irreverent comments about his old-fashioned manner coexist with genuine confidence in his judgment.

An unconventional life in Liyue Harbor

Away from formal duties, Hu Tao wanders streets and hills seeking amusements, improvising verse, and baffling onlookers with private games. Residents can find her behavior unnerving, especially when her sense of humor turns to death, but she does not regard death as a subject that must be hidden from ordinary conversation. For her, enjoying the present and giving the departed proper respect belong to the same outlook.

She also approaches the funeral parlor as a business: her promotions can be startlingly direct, even as the actual service demands care and precision. That mismatch makes her a difficult person to judge from an initial meeting.

A poet with unlikely collaborators

Hu Tao calls herself the “Versemonger of the Darkest Alleys,” composing impromptu rhymes with a gusto that challenges conventional poetic refinement. Her “Hilitune” becomes known beyond the harbor. Xingqiu, a keen reader and poet himself, seeks her out; their friendly contests of verse eventually draw Chongyun into the role of occasional judge.

Her friendship with Xiangling gives her another outlet for playful experimentation, although the chef is not always delighted by Hu Tao’s attempts to liven up the day. The poet’s eye for mischief and the director’s exacting professionalism coexist rather than cancel each other out.

Her love of verse also becomes a public undertaking in the “Waterborne Poetry” event, when she co-hosts a poetry gathering bringing Liyue and Mondstadt together with the bard Venti. The event places her talent for playful improvisation in the company of writers and performers well beyond her usual Liyue circle.

Personality and Motivations

Hu Tao is quick-witted, inventive, restlessly energetic, and fond of teasing people who take themselves too seriously. She responds to awkwardness with jokes or a sudden rhyme, sometimes misjudging how unsettling that sounds to someone else. Her unusual behavior is not evidence that she treats death casually: funeral arrangements are precisely where she becomes focused, solemn, and attentive.

She treats mortality as part of the natural order and resists the idea that ordinary life should be organized around terror of its end. Her suspicion of Baizhu’s pursuit of longer life and her changing response to Qiqi show that her convictions can be firm without being entirely incapable of revision.

Appearance

Hu Tao has long, dark brown hair fading toward red at the tips, usually gathered into two high, flowing tails. Her red eyes have distinctive pale, flower-shaped pupils. Her trademark dark, flat-topped hat bears the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor insignia on a wooden talisman at the front, with red plum blossoms and a dark tassel at the side.

Her usual outfit, “Plum Blossom Bouquet,” pairs a dark, wide-sleeved, Chinese-inspired jacket with ornate trim, shorts, white socks, and dark shoes. The optional “Cherries Snow-Laden” outfit uses a lighter red-and-white palette, a dress, and sunglasses; it is a separate costume, not a replacement for her original design.

Quick facts

Home region: Liyue
Organization: Wangsheng Funeral Parlor
Position: 77th Director
Element: Pyro (Vision)
Weapon type: Polearm
Rarity: 5-star playable character
Birthday: July 15
Constellation: Papilio Charontis
In-game title: Fragrance in Thaw

Abilities

Funerary rites and ritual knowledge

As director, Hu Tao supervises exacting funeral ceremonies and has inherited knowledge concerning Liyue’s boundary between the living and the dead. Her competence is professional and ritual, not a license to reverse death at will.

Secret Spear of Wangsheng

Her normal combat technique uses a polearm with consecutive strikes and a forward-thrusting charged attack. Its name comes from the in-game talent, rather than a general claim of invincibility.

Limitations: Combat animations and damage depend on gameplay mechanics and conditions.

Guide to Afterlife

Her Elemental Skill consumes some of her current HP to enter the Paramita Papilio state, converting attacks to Pyro damage and allowing charged hits to apply Blood Blossom.

Limitations: The state is temporary; the skill has a health cost and ends when she leaves the field or is defeated.

Spirit Soother

Her Elemental Burst unleashes a blazing spirit in an area and heals Hu Tao when it hits opponents. Both damage and healing increase when she is at or below half health.

Limitations: Healing requires hitting enemies; it is a combat talent, not proof that she can resurrect the dead in the story.

Poetry and wordplay

She invents unruly rhymes and matches poetic wits with Xingqiu, showing creativity beyond her formal occupation.

Relationships

Zhongli

Consultant employed by Hu Tao

Zhongli works at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and is one of the authorities she relies on for traditional rites, despite her teasing remarks about his reserved manners.

Xiangling

Friend

The chef and Hu Tao share a playful friendship, although Hu Tao’s penchant for unexpected ingredients and jokes can be exasperating.

Xingqiu

Friend and fellow poet

Their spontaneous poetry contests contrast Xingqiu’s polished literary instincts with Hu Tao’s unconventional, energetic verse.

Chongyun

Friend and occasional poetry judge

He is sometimes invited to judge the poetry competitions between Hu Tao and Xingqiu.

Qiqi

Uneasy acquaintance

Their history has left Qiqi wary of Hu Tao, even though Hu Tao’s own attitude toward the young zombie has changed.

Baizhu

Ideological opponent and professional acquaintance

Hu Tao challenges the Bubu Pharmacy owner’s ideas about prolonging life, but their occupations also bring them into contact on matters of illness and death.

Meng

Funeral parlor employee

Meng works for Hu Tao at the funeral parlor and becomes involved in her story quest through an unresolved matter connected to his childhood friend.

Interesting facts

Hu Tao personally altered a hat inherited from the 75th Director to fit her much smaller head.

Her familiar accessory carries an actual family history, rather than being merely a fashionable uniform item.

The plum blossom on Hu Tao’s hat came from a tree she grew herself; she dried and treated the flower to make the decoration.

A conspicuous element of her design is also a small demonstration of patience and handiwork.

She named the two stone lions at the Ministry of Civil Affairs “Whiskers” and “Mittens” and used to wash them like pets.

The joke shows her ability to turn an imposing public monument into a private game.

Hu Tao can amuse herself for hours playing a four-player card game entirely alone.

It adds a quieter, stranger dimension to a character usually seen performing for an audience.

Her poetry collections “Fiddlesticks” and “Of Common Lives” are mentioned in her character story as unpublished.

It separates her established reputation as a street poet from the existence of commercially available books.

Her special dish, “Ghostly March,” is an unusual version of Vegetarian Abalone in the game.

Food becomes another space for the same whimsical ghost imagery found in her poems and funeral-parlor identity.

The alternate outfit “Cherries Snow-Laden” is a gift from Xiangling, while its sunglasses belong to Hu Tao.

The outfit tells a small, concrete story about friendship without implying that her default attire changed permanently.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Hu Tao in Genshin Impact?

Hu Tao is the 77th Director of Liyue’s Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, a Pyro polearm character, and a poet whose joking manner contrasts with her serious approach to funeral ceremonies.

What does the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor do?

It handles funeral arrangements and rites for Liyue’s departed, observing the customs that honor the dead and respect the wishes of surviving families.

What element and weapon does Hu Tao use?

She uses a Pyro Vision and fights with a polearm. Her Elemental Skill enhances her attacks with Pyro at the cost of some HP.

Is Hu Tao always joking about death?

No. She enjoys macabre humor in everyday life, but is disciplined and solemn when actually conducting a funeral.

Why does Qiqi avoid Hu Tao?

They have a troubled history involving Hu Tao’s interpretation of what should happen to someone who has already died. Although Hu Tao has reconsidered her position, Qiqi remains frightened of her.

What is Hu Tao’s connection to Zhongli?

Zhongli is a consultant at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Hu Tao finds his manner old-fashioned, but values his knowledge of traditional rites.

Does Hu Tao write poetry?

Yes. She improvises rhymes, calls herself the Versemonger of the Darkest Alleys, and exchanges verses with Xingqiu.

Does Genshin Impact specify Hu Tao’s current age?

The story describes her taking significant responsibilities at a young age, but does not give a single explicit current numerical age in her public character profile.

Major story spoilers below.

Her grandfather’s funeral and the border

At thirteen, Hu Tao arranged the funeral of her grandfather, Old Hu, the funeral parlor’s 75th Director. Troubled by the idea that he might still have regrets, she traveled alone to the border of life and death in hopes of seeing him one last time. After waiting there without finding him, she accepted the implication that he had moved on. On returning, she discovered a Pyro Vision among her belongings. The narrative connects its appearance to this experience without giving a mechanical explanation of how Visions are granted.

The 2025 Lantern Rite story later clarifies the family tragedy. Ten years before the Traveler’s arrival, Hu Tao’s father, the 76th Director, died after a fatal mistake while combating dangerous fetor at Wuwang Hill. Old Hu contained the contamination but was exposed and died later. Hu Tao speaks sternly of her father’s failure to let go of worldly attachments, even though he was family; the earlier Vision account had described her grandfather’s death as following an illness.

A childhood ghost and the purpose of farewell

In her Papilio Charontis story quest, “Yet the Butterfly Flutters Away,” Hu Tao assists her employee Meng with the lingering presence of his childhood friend Big G. She and the Traveler investigate the supposed haunting, uncover ordinary misunderstandings behind some of the fear, and eventually help Big G reach the border, where farewell can take place. The episode demonstrates why Hu Tao regards allowing spirits to move on as an act of care rather than abandonment.

The limits of her beliefs

Hu Tao initially repeatedly tried to put the zombie Qiqi to rest, believing that this was the right course for someone already dead. After learning how fiercely Qiqi wanted to continue living, she stopped those attempts and tried to make amends, although Qiqi did not readily forgive her. This is a meaningful qualification to Hu Tao’s otherwise uncompromising philosophy.

In Baizhu’s “The Heart of Healing” quest, the death-related danger surrounding Jialiang brings Hu Tao into conflict with Baizhu’s resolve to save his patient. She learns that Baizhu’s late master was her own great-uncle, the younger brother of her grandfather, who left the funeral business to study medicine. Though still wary of Baizhu’s approach, she gives him a chance to treat the man, rather than insisting immediately on last rites.

Springtime Charms: the cost of the Gate of Death

During the 2025 Lantern Rite event “Springtime Charms,” a resurgence of dangerous fetor threatens Liyue. Hu Tao must hold the Gate of Death at Wuwang Hill during a ritual using the Eight Gates. She understands that the person at that gate may be sacrificed, and privately tells Zhongli that he should succeed her as the funeral parlor’s 78th Director if she does not return. Her composure makes the choice no less grave.

Although Lan Yan prepares protective rattan figures and the others agree to share the burden, the rite overwhelms Hu Tao. At the border, she meets her father and grandfather, who tell her that her time has not come. The Traveler, whose unusual absence from the Ley Lines allows them to intervene without being bound to the rite in the same way, reaches her at Wuwang Hill and draws the fetor away. Hu Tao returns to the living world and carries the unconscious Traveler to Liyue Harbor, where Baizhu treats their exhaustion. She remains the 77th Director.

The event also reveals that her father, the parlor’s 76th Director, died while dealing with fetor near Wuwang Hill and that Old Hu later succumbed after containing the disaster. The later disclosure adds gravity to Hu Tao’s devotion to maintaining the boundary between life and death.

Later appearances without a fixed ending

Hu Tao continues to take part in Liyue’s gatherings after the crisis. In the 2026 Lantern Rite quest “The Realm of Clouds,” she meets Xiangling, Xingqiu, and Chongyun at Third-Round Knockout, and the group investigates a strange reported lunar phenomenon at Chiwang Terrace, without witnessing it themselves. These later appearances show her life continuing beyond the Gate of Death ordeal. Genshin Impact remains an ongoing game narrative, with no established final lifetime outcome for Hu Tao in the material assessed here.

Additional story facts

In Baizhu’s story quest, Hu Tao identifies his deceased teacher as her grandfather’s younger brother and a former deputy director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

This makes the philosophical disagreement between a funeral director and a physician partly a dispute shaped by the same family history.

Just before the 2025 Gate of Death rite, Hu Tao recites a poem evoking the first five names of her Papilio Charontis constellations, and Zhongli completes the thought with the sixth.

It connects the story’s poetry with specific gameplay constellation names, rather than presenting an arbitrary decorative verse.

Spoiler questions

How did Hu Tao receive her Pyro Vision?

After conducting her grandfather’s funeral at age thirteen, she went to the border between life and death seeking him. She never found his spirit and, after returning home, discovered a Pyro Vision in her bag.

Who were Hu Tao’s father and grandfather?

Her grandfather, Old Hu, was the 75th Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and her father was the 76th. The 2025 Lantern Rite narrative supplies more detail about their deaths while confronting fetor.

What happens to Big G in Hu Tao’s story quest?

Hu Tao and the Traveler help Big G, the ghost connected with Meng’s childhood, reach the border and finally say goodbye to his friends.

Is Hu Tao related to Baizhu?

No direct blood relationship between Hu Tao and Baizhu is established. Baizhu studied under Hu Tao’s great-uncle, who was the younger brother of her grandfather.

Does Hu Tao die during the 2025 Lantern Rite?

No. She nearly dies while undertaking the Gate of Death ritual, encounters her father and grandfather at the border, and is brought back by the Traveler.

Does Zhongli become the 78th Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?

No. Hu Tao raises the possibility if she fails to return from the rite, but she survives and retains her role as director.

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