diff --git a/reftable/iter.c b/reftable/iter.c
index 8b5ebf6183..7aa30c4a51 100644
--- a/reftable/iter.c
+++ b/reftable/iter.c
@@ -16,11 +16,6 @@ https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
 #include "reader.h"
 #include "reftable-error.h"
 
-int iterator_is_null(struct reftable_iterator *it)
-{
-	return !it->ops;
-}
-
 static void filtering_ref_iterator_close(void *iter_arg)
 {
 	struct filtering_ref_iterator *fri = iter_arg;
diff --git a/reftable/iter.h b/reftable/iter.h
index 47d67d84df..537431baba 100644
--- a/reftable/iter.h
+++ b/reftable/iter.h
@@ -16,10 +16,6 @@ https://developers.google.com/open-source/licenses/bsd
 #include "reftable-iterator.h"
 #include "reftable-generic.h"
 
-/* Returns true for a zeroed out iterator, such as the one returned from
- * iterator_destroy. */
-int iterator_is_null(struct reftable_iterator *it);
-
 /* iterator that produces only ref records that point to `oid` */
 struct filtering_ref_iterator {
 	int double_check;
diff --git a/reftable/merged.c b/reftable/merged.c
index ae74234472..29ad09f3d8 100644
--- a/reftable/merged.c
+++ b/reftable/merged.c
@@ -70,8 +70,7 @@ static void merged_iter_close(void *p)
 	reftable_free(mi->subiters);
 }
 
-static int merged_iter_advance_nonnull_subiter(struct merged_iter *mi,
-					       size_t idx)
+static int merged_iter_advance_subiter(struct merged_iter *mi, size_t idx)
 {
 	struct pq_entry e = {
 		.index = idx,
@@ -92,13 +91,6 @@ static int merged_iter_advance_nonnull_subiter(struct merged_iter *mi,
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int merged_iter_advance_subiter(struct merged_iter *mi, size_t idx)
-{
-	if (iterator_is_null(&mi->subiters[idx].iter))
-		return 0;
-	return merged_iter_advance_nonnull_subiter(mi, idx);
-}
-
 static int merged_iter_next_entry(struct merged_iter *mi,
 				  struct reftable_record *rec)
 {