diff --git a/src/hb-font.cc b/src/hb-font.cc
index 5f0807f28..1cffc91cd 100644
--- a/src/hb-font.cc
+++ b/src/hb-font.cc
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
 static hb_codepoint_t
 hb_font_get_glyph_nil (hb_font_t *font, hb_face_t *face, const void *user_data,
 		       hb_codepoint_t unicode, hb_codepoint_t variation_selector)
-{ return unicode; }
+{ return 0; }
 
 static hb_bool_t
 hb_font_get_contour_point_nil (hb_font_t *font, hb_face_t *face, const void *user_data,