diff --git a/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph.go b/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph.go
index 1639a62e6..c267bbbcb 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph.go
@@ -107,19 +107,18 @@ func RenderAux(pipeSets [][]Pipe, commits []*models.Commit, selectedCommitHashPt
 }
 
 func getNextPipes(prevPipes []Pipe, commit *models.Commit, getStyle func(c *models.Commit) *style.TextStyle) []Pipe {
-	maxPos := int16(0)
-	for _, pipe := range prevPipes {
-		if pipe.toPos > maxPos {
-			maxPos = pipe.toPos
-		}
-	}
-
 	// a pipe that terminated in the previous line has no bearing on the current line
-	// so we'll filter those out
+	// so we'll filter those out. The same goes for the pipe from a root commit to
+	// the empty tree, because no commit comes after a root commit.
 	currentPipes := lo.Filter(prevPipes, func(pipe Pipe, _ int) bool {
-		return pipe.kind != TERMINATES
+		return pipe.kind != TERMINATES && !equalHashes(pipe.toHash, &EmptyTreeCommitHash)
 	})
 
+	maxPos := int16(-1)
+	for _, pipe := range currentPipes {
+		maxPos = max(maxPos, pipe.toPos)
+	}
+
 	newPipes := make([]Pipe, 0, len(currentPipes)+len(commit.ParentPtrs()))
 	// start by assuming that we've got a brand new commit not related to any preceding commit.
 	// (this only happens when we're doing `git log --all`). These will be tacked onto the far end.
diff --git a/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph_test.go b/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph_test.go
index 35fc7a620..f05574881 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph_test.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/presentation/graph/graph_test.go
@@ -102,18 +102,11 @@ func TestRenderCommitGraph(t *testing.T) {
 				{Hash: "A", Parents: []string{"B"}},
 				{Hash: "B"},
 			},
-			/* EXPECTED:
 			expectedOutput: `
 			1 ○
 			2 ○
 			A ○
 			B ○`,
-			ACTUAL: */
-			expectedOutput: `
-			1 ○
-			2 ○
-			A │ ○
-			B │ ○`,
 		},
 		{
 			name: "with a merge of an unrelated history",
@@ -123,18 +116,11 @@ func TestRenderCommitGraph(t *testing.T) {
 				{Hash: "A"},
 				{Hash: "3"},
 			},
-			/* EXPECTED:
 			expectedOutput: `
 			1 ◎─╮
 			2 ○ │
 			A │ ○
 			3 ○`,
-			ACTUAL: */
-			expectedOutput: `
-			1 ◎─╮
-			2 ○ │
-			A │ ○
-			3 ○ │`,
 		},
 		{
 			name: "with a path that has room to move to the left and continues",
@@ -570,10 +556,7 @@ func TestGetNextPipes(t *testing.T) {
 				Parents: []string{},
 			}),
 			expected: []Pipe{
-				/* EXPECTED:
 				{fromPos: 0, toPos: 0, fromHash: pool("root"), toHash: pool(models.EmptyTreeCommitHash), kind: STARTS, style: &style.FgDefault},
-				ACTUAL: */
-				{fromPos: 1, toPos: 1, fromHash: pool("root"), toHash: pool(models.EmptyTreeCommitHash), kind: STARTS, style: &style.FgDefault},
 			},
 		},
 	}