Hu Tao/Lore

==Personality==
At first glance, Hu Tao appears to be a quirky and cheerful girl. She enjoys pranking people and despises sitting around and doing nothing. She wishes to live her life to the fullest. Her eccentric and off-the-wall personality often leaves people with a negative impression of her, especially Qiqi, who states that she has a "punchable face" and should be stored in the fridge. In contrast, Xiao enjoys her sense of humor, finding it irritating but interesting.
On the other hand, when handling funerals and last rites, she becomes more solemn and constantly reminds her employees to never deviate from the client's requests. Due to the importance and traditions of the parlor's duties, she expresses a distaste towards people treating her or her employees with suspicion whenever they go to work at night.
Despite her negative impressions, Hu Tao is knowedgeable about the adepti and Liyue's past, having suspected Zhongli to be an adeptus. However, she usually keeps this a secret from those who are unaware for their own safety. Hu Tao accepts death as a natural part of life and tells others to enjoy their short lives. However, she tends to be too excited about death for the means of increasing business. She also loathes those who try to prolong their natural lifespan, such as Baizhu, though she does not appear to be aware of his intentions for doing so. She also appears to show a lack of interest in her Pyro Vision.
==Appearance==
Hu Tao uses the medium female model. She has a fair complexion; bright scarlet eyes with white, blossom-shaped pupils; faded red makeup painted at the corners of her eyes; and long dark brown hair fading to crimson at the tips.
==Official Introduction==
At first glance, she appears to be a quirky and cheerful girl. No one would think that she is actually the renowned and illustrious Hu Tao.
Whether she is acting as the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor or as Liyue Harbor's "famous" poet, Hu Tao's nature is exceedingly eccentric. Like lightning or sparks of flame, she always comes and goes in the blink of an eye, igniting everything around her.
She pens poems by the oil of midnight and flits across mountains and seas by daylight. She appears at any time and at any place. From bustling streets to barren alleys, to derelict mountains and desolate peaks, in radiant and refulgent skies, or shadowed and starless night... Anything is possible — anything can become full of wonder.
Hu Tao is an undecipherable riddle, but people don't lament their lack of an answer. If asked, they would say, "This is the natural order of things, right? After all, no one can outrun the wind or take hold of a flame!"
She walks the line between life and death, shouldering responsibilities unknown to most mortals.
Be careful around Hu Tao, lest she leads you by the nose!
==Character Stories==
==Namecard==
==Constellation==
==Quests and Events==
==Character Trials==
==Character Mentions==
==Mail==
==Trivia==
* Zhongli first mentions her during the and hopes that she has been able to keep the authorities at bay after the Qixing turned their suspicions on the Fatui — which the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is associated with.
** She is also mentioned on an anonymous message left on the Wangshu Inn Bulletin Board, which is likely Zhongli's.
* Hu Tao writes a response to Baizhu's message on the Feiyun Slope Bulletin Board, in which she says he should hand Qiqi over to be buried by the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
* Hu Tao is the first playable character starting from global release who goes by her full name in official media and in the game's interface; Kamisato Ayaka was the very first, introduced in the First Closed Beta Test but afterwards unavailable until Version 2.0. While other characters before them have known surnames, such as Jean (Jean Gunnhildr), Kaeya (Kaeya Alberich), and Diluc (Diluc Ragnvindr), they go by their given names in official material.
** Yun Jin is the second playable Liyue character who goes by her full name.
* Hu Tao is associated with butterflies because Chinese traditions commonly associate them with life and death, and the dead.
* She wears plum blossoms on her hat, which are associated with late winter. This fits her title, Fragrance in Thaw, which also refers to winter transitioning into spring.
* On April 1, 2021, HoYoverse made Hu Tao their official mascot for April Fools' Day, replacing Paimon. Their social media accounts changed their profile pictures to images of her, and the official Discord server for Genshin Impact had a Hu Tao theme.
** This is most likely to reference Hu Tao's reputation as a prankster within Liyue, which suits the theme of April Fools' Day.
* Hu Tao is the last character (before Wanderer) whose Character Introduction Illustration differs from their Wish Artwork.
* Hu Tao is known by these aliases or titles:
** Director Hu
* Hu Tao is the first and only limited 5 star character to not be revealed during a version trailer, most likely due to her relations with death, which was a taboo during Lunar New Year, the time before her release.
* Hu Tao's "Hilitune" featured in her More About Hu Tao: I and idle voice-overs is also sung by Dusky Ming in Wangshu, the Traveler when talking to Shinozuka, and referenced in the .
** In the Chinese, Japanese and Korean versions, the song is a reference to a Chinese nursery rhyme called .
* 
===Etymology===
* When read together, Hu Tao's name () refers to the , and is itself a regional term for walnuts in . In the game, both characters are parsed separately: as her surname is distinct from her given name . The English version reflects this by separating the two characters with a space, unlike most other Liyue characters whose names are commonly written as one word, without any spaces.
** In Chinese official media, however, the name is often spelled as simply "Hutao," without the space as utilized in the English localization.
* The "walnut" interpretation of Hu Tao's name may be a reference to an old Chinese folk song about walnuts granting long life. A variant of the song goes: "[When] walnuts do not leave the hand, [one] can live up to eighty-nine, surpassing even the ; the will not be able to call [them] away!" .
** The Qianlong Emperor is one of the longest-reigning and longest-lived monarchs in world history. He lived to eighty-seven, which is two years less than the stated year in the song.
** The name of the King of Hell mentioned in the song, Yánwáng is a homophone for half of Zhongli's title, Yánwáng Dìjūn . It is possible that Zhongli's role as a consultant in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is also a nod to the song.
* Her constellation, Papilio Charontis, is Latin for "the butterfly of ."
* Her name "Hu Tao" sounds similar to the word "butterfly" in Chinese (). In the Chinese and Korean character teasers, Hu Tao jokingly refers to her and the butterflies as having the same surname.
==Other Languages==
===Character Title: Fragrance in Thaw===
==References==
==Navigation==
fr:Hu Tao/Histoire
id:Hu Tao/Kisah
it:Hu Tao/Storia
ja:胡桃/ストーリー
pl:Hu Tao/Fabuła
pt-br:Hutao/Perfil
ru:Ху Тао/Лор
th:Hu Tao/เนื้อเรื่อง
tr:Hu Tao/Hikaye
uk:Ху Тао/Відомості
vi:Hu Tao/Cốt Truyện
zh:胡桃/故事