Tao Xu is a main character in the Netflix series Heartstopper.
Personality[]
Tao comes off as dramatic and irritable, but is also kind and caring to his friends. He is very protective of his friends, as shown when he is worried for Charlie as he tries to get with Nick. He greatly values his friend group, always trying to get the group together. Tao seems to be scared of being alone. He is upset when the friend group seems to drifting apart and expresses a desire to go back to the old times.
Biography[]
Background Information[]
Tao was on on September 23rd, 2006.
At some point, he started attending Truham Grammar School for Boys. He hangs out with Elle, Charlie, and Isaac the most. The four of them would often having film nights and friend gatherings together. During Year 9, Tao accidentally outed Charlie during a conversation with Isaac, something he feels incredibly guilty over.
Season 1[]
Tao is shown to greatly miss Elle, who is now attending Higgs. During lunch, he instinctively buys her apple juice for her. Tao then catches Charlie gazing off at Nick playing rugby and refers to him as a golden retriever. He warns Charlie to be careful around Nick. He then starts to text Elle and informs her about Charlie's crush on Nick. ("Meet") Tao tells Charlie that Nick is most likely straight and to get over him. When Charlie starts to believe there may be a chance he isn't straight, Tao tells him he heard from Otis that Nick likes Tara Jones. Tao gets the friend group together for an intervention about Charlie's crush. They ask Elle to ask Tara if she likes Nick back, which they find out she doesn't. ("Crush")
Tao is annoyed when Charlie chooses to go to Harry's party over hanging out for film night. Isaac says he is "sick," so Tao and Elle just hang out with each other. Tao expresses his want to go back to the "old times." He believes that Charlie is changing since he chooses to hang out with Nick over them. Tao is happy for Elle making friends, but does tell her he misses her being with them. They make a promise to always prioritize their friendship. ("Kiss")
Relationships[]
Family[]
Tao lives with his mother Yan Xu. She only appeared once but she has been shown to be very kind and caring and supportive of Tao's feelings for Elle, who she adores.
Romances[]
Tao Xu is in a romantic relationship with Elle Argent, his friend a year above him who once attended Truham Grammar but transferred to Higgs School halfway through her 11th year.
Friends[]
Charlie Spring[]
Tao and Charlie both go to Truham and they're best friends. Tao is very loyal to his friends and he's protective of Charlie in particular because he knows how harshly he was and is bullied because of his sexuality; he always defends him from the remarks Harry and his peers make. He tends to be too protective though, which is the reason he doesn't want Charlie and Nick to date at first, afraid that it might be just a game to Nick, and that Charlie will get hurt; once he sees how good Nick is to Charlie, he backs down and supports his best friend.
Isaac Henderson[]
Isaac is part of Taos friend group and he goes to Truham. Isaac likes to spend his time in Library and reading books. He seems to follow most of the "friend group" around and enjoy himself listening to their conversations. Not much has been covered on Isaac.
Enemies[]
Harry Greene[]
Ben Hope[]
Quotes[]
Season 1[]
- "I did it again. I bought Elle's drink. Again."
- ―Tao after buying an extra drink for Elle, also his first line.
- "There used to be four is us, now there's only three. Like, four is a group."
- ―Tao about Elle not being at their school anymore.
- "I bet he's a whole different person when he's with his bro, dude friends."
- ―Tao to Nick about Charlie.
- "Don't die."
- ―Tao to Charlie about joining the rugby team.
- "As your token straight friend, it's my duty to remind you that sometimes people are straight. It is an unfortunate fact of life."
- ―Tao to Charlie about Nick being straight.
- "Can we promise that no matter what happens we'll always prioritize our friendship? (...) No I'm serious. Like, no what changes, we always put our friendship first. We'll still go bowling and watch creepy documentaries, and we'll always stay up to watch the Oscars. And we'll always be able to talk about deep stuff. Like this."
- ―Tao to Elle about prioritizing their friendship.
"I deserve to be appreciated."
"I was going to say I'd send him a strongly worded DM, but murder's fine too."
"Life must be so hard when your only personality trait is rich bell-end"
"If you want my attention that badly why don't you throw something at me again, like your last remaining brain cell?"
"Classic Harry. Resorting on homophobia when you can't think of a good comeback"
"You clearly didn't hugged much as a child, but if you're craving human contact that badly, you could just say so"
Appearances[]
| Season 1 Appearances | |||
| Meet | Crush | Kiss | Secret |
| Friend | Girls | Bully | Boyfriend |
| Season 2 Appearances | |||
| Out | Family | Promise | Challenge |
| Heat | Truth/Dare | Sorry | Perfect |
| Season 3 Appearances | |||
| Love | Home | Talk | Journey |
| Winter | Body | Together | Apart |
Trivia[]
- Tao has a film review blog.
- His favorite movie is Hunt for the Wilder People.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
Listen to Heartstopper: Elle & Tao playlist on Spotify
References[]
Heartstopper Characters
| |
|---|---|
| Main | Charlie • Nick • Tao • Elle • Tara • Darcy • Isaac • Tori • Imogen • Ben • Harry • Mr. Ajayi • Coach Singh • Sahar • Mr. Farouk • Sarah |
| Supporting | James • David • Stéphane • Diane • Geoff • Michael • Mr. Lange • Otis • Christian • Sai • Jane • Julio • Yan • Naomi • Felix |
| Minor | Amanda • Mariam • Richard • Oliver • Jack • Ivy • Ant • Roger • Nancy • Edwards • Nellie • Henry • Headmaster Barnes |