diff --git a/lib/database.cc b/lib/database.cc
index 3c8d626e..2b36a5c9 100644
--- a/lib/database.cc
+++ b/lib/database.cc
@@ -912,7 +912,6 @@ notmuch_database_add_message (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 	 * database). */
 
 	message = _notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (notmuch,
-							  notmuch,
 							  message_id,
 							  &private_status);
 
diff --git a/lib/message.cc b/lib/message.cc
index 692fd897..c3eb2e6e 100644
--- a/lib/message.cc
+++ b/lib/message.cc
@@ -148,15 +148,8 @@ _notmuch_message_create (const void *talloc_owner,
 /* Create a new notmuch_message_t object for a specific message ID,
  * (which may or may not already exist in the databas).
  *
- * Here, 'talloc owner' is an optional talloc context to which the new
- * message will belong. This allows for the caller to not bother
- * calling notmuch_message_destroy on the message, and no that all
- * memory will be reclaimed with 'talloc_owner' is free. The caller
- * still can call notmuch_message_destroy when finished with the
- * message if desired.
- *
- * The 'talloc_owner' argument can also be NULL, in which case the
- * caller *is* responsible for calling notmuch_message_destroy.
+ * The 'notmuch' database will be the talloc owner of the returned
+ * message.
  *
  * If there is already a document with message ID 'message_id' in the
  * database, then the returned message can be used to query/modify the
@@ -169,8 +162,7 @@ _notmuch_message_create (const void *talloc_owner,
  * not be NULL.)
  */
 notmuch_message_t *
-_notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (const void *talloc_owner,
-					notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
+_notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 					const char *message_id,
 					notmuch_private_status_t *status_ret)
 {
@@ -183,7 +175,7 @@ _notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (const void *talloc_owner,
 
     message = notmuch_database_find_message (notmuch, message_id);
     if (message)
-	return talloc_steal (talloc_owner, message);
+	return talloc_steal (notmuch, message);
 
     term = talloc_asprintf (NULL, "%s%s",
 			    _find_prefix ("id"), message_id);
@@ -204,7 +196,7 @@ _notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (const void *talloc_owner,
 	return NULL;
     }
 
-    message = _notmuch_message_create (talloc_owner, notmuch,
+    message = _notmuch_message_create (notmuch, notmuch,
 				       doc_id, status_ret);
 
     /* We want to inform the caller that we had to create a new
diff --git a/lib/notmuch-private.h b/lib/notmuch-private.h
index 6036ce4a..c398c80a 100644
--- a/lib/notmuch-private.h
+++ b/lib/notmuch-private.h
@@ -167,8 +167,7 @@ _notmuch_message_create (const void *talloc_owner,
 			 notmuch_private_status_t *status);
 
 notmuch_message_t *
-_notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (const void *talloc_owner,
-					notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
+_notmuch_message_create_for_message_id (notmuch_database_t *notmuch,
 					const char *message_id,
 					notmuch_private_status_t *status);