Tao Hua: The Hisui Craftsman Who Wouldn't Stock the Store

A supplier who refuses to supply is a plot all by himself. Tao Hua runs the Galaxy Team's craftspeople, keeps his goods to himself and leaves the village's general store with empty shelves. It takes four errands across Hisui to understand why, and the reason has nothing to do with business.

Contents

• The Supply Corps, an Office in the Basement
• The Feud With Choy, Owner of the General Store
• Four Errands, Four Areas
• What His Ingredients Say About the Region
• The Stolen Treasure's Name Is Yui
• A Fruit for a Name, a Worry About the Sky
• Tao Hua at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Supply Corps, an Office in the Basement

Tao Hua heads the Supply Corps, meaning every resident of Jubilife Village who makes items. His office is in the basement of Galaxy Hall, the Galaxy Team's headquarters, and he never once steps into the main story of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

The Galaxy Team divides its members into several corps, including the Survey Corps, led by Cyllene, the Security Corps, entrusted to Zisu, and his own, which handles production. His rule fits in one sentence: in a region where nothing exists yet, everyone makes what they need.

He then ties exploration to raw materials. The more ground you cover, the more varied the resources, and the longer the list of items you can craft — provided you've collected the recipes that go with them. The game's crafting loop is spelled out by the character in charge of it.

The Feud With Choy, Owner of the General Store

The village's general store is waiting for goods that never arrive. Tao Hua flatly refuses, on principle, to supply Choy, the shopkeeper, and the standoff has gone on long enough that a third party has to step in.

With the protagonist, the tone is entirely different. The corps captain treats them with respect because they quelled the noble Pokémon, and greets them each time by mentioning their latest feat. Yet the recruit belongs to the Survey Corps, not to his workshops.

Choy, for his part, never comes to plead his case in person: he sends his own customers to negotiate for him. Tao Hua openly holds it against him and ends up finding it shameful that a recruit of this caliber should serve as a merchant's messenger.

Four Errands, Four Areas

Breaking the deadlock takes four successive requests, spread out over the course of the game. Each one costs three units of a regional resource, and the four titles speak for themselves: "Getting Ahold of New Wares," "More New Wares," "Even More New Wares," "New Wares Yet Again" — the game fully owns the repetition.

Tao Hua first asks for three stalks of Hearty Grains, then three Pop Pods, then three hunks of Crunchy Salt, and finally three Sand Radishes. These four resources come from the Crimson Mirelands, the Cobalt Coastlands, the Coronet Highlands and the Alabaster Icelands, in that order.

The sequence isn't arbitrary: each request opens up after a noble is quelled — the Lord of the Woods, the Lady of the Ridge, the Lord of the Isles, then the Lord of the Hollow. His errands mark the opening up of the region rather than driving it, which is why you can miss them entirely.

🔨 Jubilife Village's workbench has its counterpart in our shop: see the Pokémon goodies.

What His Ingredients Say About the Region

Hearty Grains remind him of his homeland, where the stalks blanket the landscape in golden brown; combined with other ingredients, they give off an aroma Pokémon can't resist. Pop Pods, gathered on the shores where they wash up, go instead into making Scatter Bangs, which drive Pokémon away.

Crunchy Salt passes for an ordinary rock, and Tao Hua is quick to set the record straight: it's a mineral as translucent as crystal. Broken up with a hammer, ground in a mortar and mixed with binders, it makes a very hard snack that Pokémon love.

Sand Radishes, meanwhile, stay bitter until they've been pickled long enough, after which they become a side dish prized for its crunch. Tao Hua plans to hand one to his granddaughter, who has a knack for pickling: a domestic detail dropped in the middle of an inventory conversation.

The Stolen Treasure's Name Is Yui

The third errand is paid for differently from the others: in exchange for the salt, Tao Hua promises to explain his stubbornness. Choy, he says, stole his greatest treasure, an offense he swears he'll never forgive, and he sends the protagonist off on that line.

On the fourth, the confession goes further. He would gladly supply the general store, even for free, but supplying Choy would mean forgiving him, an idea that turns his stomach. The treasure in question was never merchandise.

Tao Hua first apologizes for making the protagonist his go-between and resolves to go have it out face to face. In the middle of this confrontation with Choy, Yui appears — his granddaughter, whom he raised on his own: she agreed to marry the shopkeeper after promising her grandfather she would never marry.

A Fruit for a Name, a Worry About the Sky

His French name, Nectarin, comes from the nectarine, a variety of peach. Other languages, English included, take his name from the Chinese táohuā (桃花), meaning peach blossom: the fruit-tree theme holds everywhere, only the part of the tree changes.

Outside of missions, one line pulls him away from his workbench for a moment: he wishes there were an item that could fix the sky, and admits he can't think of one. It's the only moment his method — make what's missing — runs into a problem beyond his reach.

His last remark is the one most rooted in its era: more and more people will choose to live with Pokémon as partners, so far more Poké Balls will need to be made. From the region's distant past, the craftsman states what every game set after him takes for granted.

Tao Hua at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Tao Hua in Pokémon Legends: Arceus?
  The captain of the Galaxy Team's Supply Corps, meaning the residents of Jubilife Village who make items. His office is in the basement of headquarters, and he plays no part in the main story.
• Why does Tao Hua refuse to supply the general store?
  Because Choy, its shopkeeper, took what he calls his greatest treasure: his granddaughter Yui, who agreed to marry Choy after promising never to marry. The refusal is about family, not business.
• What do you need to bring Tao Hua?
  Four deliveries of three units each: stalks of Hearty Grains, Pop Pods, hunks of Crunchy Salt and Sand Radishes. Each resource comes from a different area of Hisui.
• When do these side requests become available?
  After the noble Pokémon are quelled: the Lord of the Woods, the Lady of the Ridge, the Lord of the Isles and then the Lord of the Hollow. Each time, Tao Hua greets the protagonist by mentioning their latest feat.
• Where does Tao Hua's name come from?
  His French name, Nectarin, comes from the nectarine, a variety of peach. In other languages, English included, his name comes from the Chinese táohuā, meaning peach blossom.

In short

Tao Hua doesn't battle, joins no expedition and has no team. His whole role comes down to a refusal to sell, and that refusal hides a marriage he won't accept. The four errands he sets mostly serve to show you Hisui through its ingredients — grain, seaweed, salt, radish — and to get a grandfather who'd rather grumble in the basement to open up. It's one of the few storylines in the game that gets resolved without Pokémon.