Genshin Impact’s Weakest Character May Be Its New Strongest

Screenshot: HoYoverse / Kotaku

HoYoverse just released a new story trailer for Genshin Impact, and a burning question is consuming all fans: How did a small child carry one of Genshin’s strongest DPS characters on his back? As of this writing, “WHAT???” is currently the most voted topic on Genshin Reddit. Fanartists have proposed their own theories, and they’re terrifying.

Yesterday, the developers released an animated trailer in which the patron character Xiao passes out after fighting many monsters. When he wakes up, the pharmacy assistant Qiqi explains that she was carrying him on his back. Absolutely no one disputes this, despite the fact that Qiqi is a child.

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Qiqi is probably one of the most popular characters of Genshin Impact. Not because she’s powerful, but because the gacha system gives her away as a consolation prize for anyone who didn’t manage to get the character they really wanted. That’s why the community reacted so strongly: They spent more than two years thinking she was just an overwhelming healer. Could she have been hiding a secret strength all along?

Fortunately, Genshin fans will always find a way to justify shocking knowledge. Part of this is because HoYoverse has always encouraged fan works and speculation. The other reason is because Genshin is so internally consistent with his story that everything in his official materials is taken as absolute and meaningful gospel. So even if the HoYoverse makes a joke that is admittedly absurd, fans will take the time and effort to explain to their peers how Qiqi is the most attacked character in the game. Here are my favorite examples:

Qiqi has incredible upper body strength and could just carry a grown man (teenage boy?) in the normal way.

Qiqi can transform into an absolutely naked woman with the figure of a bodybuilder. I’m 90 percent sure this is a reference to Biscuit Krueger from the popular Hunter x Hunter manga.

This image mocks Qiq’s status as a spoiler. It often appeared when players were trying to pull for someone else, and so it became a common joke to photoshop popular Genshin characters into Qiqi’s color palette. This joke specifically uses Alhaitham, who is physically powerful despite his protestations that he is just a “weak scholar”. So the image not only implies that Qiqi is strong, but suggests that she has been deceiving us all along.

This artist is kind to Qiqi and assumes that she is still very much a child. Despite her limitations, she was kind enough to pull Xiao off his feet.

This artist is not kind to Xiao and assumes that he was dragged along flapping like a kite in the wind.

While it’s true that we don’t see the back of Xiao’s outfit, this rendition of the night’s events feels a little off.

Xiao’s lore implies that he has a bird form and has his official merchandise as a chonky finch. I doubt The Bane of All Evil will turn into such a cute and fluffy bird, but this is definitely an artistic interpretation that is kind to both him and Qiq.

Regardless of how Qiqi managed to hold off someone bigger than her, fans can agree on one thing: The pharmacy assistant is the true gigacha of Genshin Impact.