XiaoVen

XiaoVen is the slash ship between Xiao and Venti from the Genshin Impact fandom.

Canon
Xiao's 5th Character Story tells about a time when he was fighting evil from dusk till dawn, and just barely emerged victorious. Exhausted, he began to feel the hatred that tainted his body; it flooded his senses, and he fell to the ground. There's no telling what would have happened if not for the sound of a flute that got carried to Xiao by the wind, which protected and calmed him, bringing him back to his senses. Xiao suspected the sound to come from Venti, being a deity, and it was later confirmed in the story teaser "Yakshas: The Guardian Adepti". In the teaser, it is shown that three of the original Yakshas had died and the fourth succumbed to darkness and disappeared without a trace. It is safe to assume that if not for the Dihua flute, which can be seen played by Venti, Xiao too would've gone down the same path as the other four Yakshas. In a way, Venti saved Xiao. From Xiao's voiceline, he seems to remember, or at least know, that it was Venti who he heard on that day.

In the trailer "'Endless Suffering' Short Trailer", the two have their first canon interaction. Xiao heads to Wangshu Inn's balcony, where Venti, sitting on the roof, sees him and invites him for a drink, to which Xiao declines as he wants to rest for tonight. Venti is not saddened by this development and instead smiles when Xiao takes care of himself and remains on the roof of the inn after Xiao has left. Venti ends the trailer by making a nod to Xiao and the karmic toll he had brought upon himself by saying, "It's good to take the mask off once in a while, even for just one night."

In the Event Quest 'Between Facades and Familiar Faces' during the 'The Exquisite Night Chimes' event, Hu Tao hosts a dinner at Xinyue Kiosk. Xiao recounts how an old friend of his visited shortly before lantern rite. With a smile he describes how things have been a lot more stable than before. However, when traveler asks who this friend may be, Xiao claims traveler should know them but is interrupted by a gust of wind that blows open the doors, revealing Venti. Hu Tao invites him to the table, where he takes a seat next to Xiao. Xiao is startled by Venti’s appearance, not expecting him to be there. When Venti introduces himself as a bard in front of the table Xiao is unsure how to continue the lie and stutters over his words. Venti gives Xiao a hand by reiterating he’s a bard and that he and Xiao spoke not long ago. Xiao explains how Venti was playing in Dihua Marsh and he stayed to listen. He says it is a moving melody and put his mind at ease. Venti seems to hold off teasing Xiao when he sees his discomfort being around many mortals and having to lie. The interaction between the two confirms they do not wear their facades around each other, Venti and Xiao are old friends. The pair remain close together throughout the dinner, often walking to stand next to each other. Xiao’s comfort is questioned by the traveler and when suspecting it is Venti’s presence Xiao stutters over his words and becomes almost shy declining that response. Xiao is surprised the traveler knows of Venti’s true identity. He explains how Venti is carefree and he looks off to the sky as he reminisces on the time he has spent with his friend.

Their personalities somewhat contrast as Xiao is seen to take his duties very seriously while Venti is rather frivolous and likes to drink frequently, leaving the ruling of Mondstadt to its people and the knights. Xiao is described as polite, reserved, and he prefers to be alone, appreciating the peace and quiet; Venti, on the other hand, has a very playful personality and enjoys playing songs across Mondstadt. While their ages are unconfirmed, they are both over 2,000 years old canonly, but take the form of young adults.

They both have Anemo Visions and share a similar color scheme.

In Xiao's voice line about Venti, he is about to comment on his tunes before reconsidering and doesn't, telling the traveler to "forget it". It is possible that Xiao wanted to mention something about Venti's music saving him, but rethought it, or that he simply wanted to compliment them.

Quotes
"Venti? So that's the name he goes by. His tunes are... Ugh, forget it."

- Xiao's voiceline about Venti

"And only on moonlit nights, in the glow from Guyun and in the sound of the Dihua flute is his memory preserved."

- Zhongli, "Yakshas: The Guardian Adepti" story teaser

"He longs for a day to come when he will wear the mask and dance — not to conquer demons, but to the tune of that flute amidst a sea of flowers."

- Xiao's namecard (Note: Xiao's namecard, in the form of an allegory, says that he wants to be free. This text is a direct reference to Venti playing the Dihua flute for Xiao in the Story Teaser - Yakshas: The Guardian Adepti.)

"Hiding? I'm hiding nothing. I just won't speak of desire to others. Do mortals not have a rule about spoken wishes never coming true? Hm? What do you mean that's not the same?"

- Xiao's voiceline about his vision (it is possible that the desire he refers to in this voiceline is the same mentioned in his namecard)

"[...] Long exhausted, Xiao felt the divine hatred that tainted his body take effect. Limitless hate flooded his senses, and he fell to the ground in agony. But it was also at that moment that the pain vanished without warning. This was not by Xiao's own strength, for he had been rescued by the sound of a flute. The clear, lovely sound of the flute came over the mountains and rivers, carried on the wind to where he lay. [...] It protected Xiao, massaging his wild senses, and giving him a moment's peace. Who was playing this music? Xiao was curious but did not pursue the matter. For he already had something approaching an answer. The last person who could help him was one of The Seven themselves. So this person, too, must be—"

- Xiao's Character Story 5

"[...] Tubby explained its presence to you thusly: that Madame Ping had arranged for her to prepare this particular villa after hearing that a certain bard had visited another adeptus's abode recently. Seeing as how you are quite familiar with this fellow, you never know when you might need just such a place."

- Mondstadt Mansion: Windward Manor description (it's confirmed that the "certain bard" is Venti and the adeptus that was mentioned is possibly Xiao or Zhongli)

Fanon
Before update 3.4, the two did not have any interactions in the main story, so the fandom relied on lore, trailers, etc.

XiaoVen started off as a couple of fanarts until the trailer released and fans were stirred at the sight of Xiao overlooking a sea whist Venti played his flute. Since then, the ship has seen immense growth with over 4600 fanfics on AO3, over 30k posts on Instagram, and over 20k tweets on Twitter and counting as of 15th February, 2023. XiaoVen has gained large popularity since Xiao is often seen as off-putting and dislikes human affairs while Venti is seen as a social butterfly and likes getting involved and interreacting  with humans.

In fanfiction and fanart, it is mostly showcasing Xiao being protected or comforted by Venti and Xiao being a person Venti can rely on.

While most ships so far have been characters from the same region, Xingyun, JeanLisa, etc. XiaoVen is one of the only ships where the two characters are from different regions and is the only ship currently to have one character from Liyue and the other from Mondstadt. While Xiao is faithful to Morax and Liyue itself, and probably doesn't venture outside of its grounds, Venti is known for his free-spirited/wandering nature and has canonically visited Liyue multiple times. Before 3.4 it had only been speculation that Venti visits Xiao during his visits but now it is confirmed they meet up privately. (eg. Venti playing a dihua flute and helping Xiao with his karmic debt).

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

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TWITTER

Trivia

 * Venti and Xiao are both over the age of 2000+.
 * Venti and Xiao possess the power of Anemo with Xiao having a polearm and Vision, and Venti a bow and Gnosis.

Variations

 * 4NEMO refers to the ship between the two, Aether and Kaedehara Kazuha
 * 5WIRL refers to the ship between the two, Aether, Kaedehara Kazuha and Shikanoin Heizou
 * 6REEZE refers to the ship between the two, Aether, Kazuha, Shikanoin Heizou and Scaramouche
 * KazuXiaoVen refers to the ship between the two and Kaedehara Kazuha