Baiheng in Honkai Star Rail: Who is the Foxian archer?

If you're a fan of Honkai Star Rail and you watched the new Animated Short: Ichor of Two Dragons, you might have noticed a new face, Baiheng. Baiheng also appeared in the recent trailer for version 1.4 and her lore is the focus of a new companion mission Clouds Leave No Trace, in which we learn plenty of intriguing information about the Foxian archer.

We've updated our article for version 1.4 to include all the new pieces of information we've learned.

Baiheng was a member of the High-Cloud Quintet, a legendary group of Xianzhou heroes in the Honkai Star Rail universe. Baiheng was a skilled Foxian archer and renowned pilot. Her weapon was a Recurve Bow designed by Yingxing (now known as Blade). She was blessed by the Reignbow Arbiter, which was believed to grant her incredible luck in battle. She also had an ability to predict future unlucky events according to Jingliu.

The first visual of Baiheng appeared in May 2023, initially from a leaker. In the artwork, Baiheng is seen fighting alongside the four other members of the High-Cloud Quintet.

Baiheng is the only member of the High-Cloud Quintet whose fate has never been completely shared. The 1.2 update focused heavily around the past of the Quintet, while version 1.3 saw a brief appearance of Jingliu but didn't dive deeper into the Quintet. Version 1.4 however, shed a lot of light on Baiheng.

The topic of Baiheng is a key focus of a companion mission called Clouds Leave No Trace in version 1.4, which reveals plenty of information about the character, more than ever before. In the Clouds Leave no Trace mission, Jingliu returns to Xianzhou Luofu so she can "surrender myself to the Alliance and atone for my sins".

However, Jingliu agrees with Jing Yuan to have 24 hours to travel the city before she turns herself in. Jingliu uses that day to pay tribute to her former comrade Baiheng because she "never had the chance to bid farewell to her".

Throughout the Companion Mission we learn more facts about Baiheng. Jingliu shares that Baiheng had incredible fortune in battle, and that her luck was "out of this world" thanks to the blessing of the Reignbow Arbiter.

We also learn that Baiheng was a Starskiff pilot, and the author of an ancient travelogue used in Cloud Knight training called: Views of the Universe From a Starskiff. The travelogue focused on "starskiff crashes on different worlds" according to Yanqing, which Jingliu said Baiheng somehow walked away from alive due to her good fortune. Her starskiffs were not so fortunate, earning her the nickname 'Starskiff Killer' at the Sky-Faring Commission.

One of the most intriguing pieces of information however, is that Baiheng had the ability to predict future events, unlucky events that would eventually all come true.

During the Clouds Leave No Trace mission, Jingliu later probes Dan Feng's reincarnation Dan Heng whether he remembers the battle of Shuhu. Jingliu goes on to explain that Baiheng charged ahead, breaking the enemies defences to awaken Dan Feng Inbibitor Lunae from his Dragon's Delirium. However, "she was not able to walk out of that fight. We all shoulder a debt that we will never be able to repay," said Jingliu.

The final piece of crucial information we learned about Baiheng during the Clouds Leave No Trace mission is that Baiheng may still be alive in some shape or form, depending on how you want to interpret Jingliu's cryptic words.

Jingliu talking to Dan Feng's reincarnation Dan Heng says that instead of leaving her to eternal rest - aka let her die - that he instead made another choice and that it was "a mistake that can never be undone".

We have a theory about where Baiheng is now, read on to learn more, but be warned though if this is correct, it potentially could be a major spoiler.

MihoYo has made no official announcement about Baiheng nor have there been any leaks regarding a playable version of her. However, there are theories that some part of Baiheng is actually already in the game, but in the form of another main story character, Bailu.

We now know from version 1.4 the answer is not a straight-forward yes or no. During the companion mission Clouds Leave No Trace, Jingliu hints that instead of "leaving Baiheng to her eternal rest" that Dan Feng Inbibitor Lunae decided to "make a mistake that can never be undone". This seems to hint that Baiheng's death is not black or white. One theory is part of her lives on inside Bailu.

The previous theories that Bailu is Baiheng reincarnated now seem to carry more weight based on what Jingliu says to Bailu in the companion mission Clouds Leave No Trace in version 1.4. Jingliu for some reason during the mission asks to find "Dragon Lady" Bailu to ask her to assess her health, knowing full well there is no cure for her mara ailment. She also has never met Bailu before but said she wishes to revisit parts of her past.

After Bailu explains she has no medicine to give her, Jingliu replies: "Thank you for your advice, Dragon Lady. Meeting you has provided more healing than any kind of medicine or remedy". Considering Jingliu's goal of the mission is to seek closure on the "death" of Baiheng, this line seems to definitely hint that some part of Baiheng exists inside Bailu.

If we draw on other lore from the High-Cloud Quintet and the Inbibitor Lunae story line this theory makes a lot of sense. Baiheng is supposed to have been killed at the battle of Shuhu, partly in fault to the Inbibitor Lunae's recklessness.

Shortly after Inbibitor Lunae breaks an unpardonable sin and steals the power of Abundance. This act results in chaos, a crime which Inbibitor later is imprisoned for. However, before he does he performs a ritual that names his Vidyadhara High Elder successor, a yet unborn Bailu.

If we compare the Bailu and Baiheng side-by-side using the newest High Cloud Quintet artwork from November 1, the visual similarities are even more evident. MiHoYo shared a high-res copy of the artwork on social media, and it's the highest-res artwork we've seen that features Baiheng. In it we can clearly see that even Baiheng's eye color matches Bailu, the faint yellow at the bottom surrounded by blue.

On top of similarities in appearance (hair colour, hair style and eye colour), Bailu's carefree and positive attitude is very similar to pieces of information we know about Baiheng.

In the mission Clouds Leave No Trace, we also for the first time hear that Baiheng in Honkai Star Rail was a pilot as well as an archer. This is especially interesting as in one interaction with Bailu in the past, she states about lately having dreams of flying. She also adds that despite her dreams being happy, she is confused why she wakes up crying when they're over.

Bailu from our interactions with her so far in Honkai Star Rail has no memory of her past at all despite being a Vidyadhara. In addition, another member of the High-Cloud Quintet Jing Yuan hints at knowing her in a previous lifetime and we know he regularly visits her delivering food.

All in hall, given Jingliu drops the information that Baiheng was not simply "left to rest" but something else happened to her and that Inbibitor Lunae was responsible, it all points to Baiheng and Bailu potentially being connected.

MiHoYo cleverly have left us with a big question: What did Inbibitor Lunae do to Baiheng? I guess we'll find out soon enough.