diff --git a/common/wireaddr.c b/common/wireaddr.c
index d54634226..941118a5d 100644
--- a/common/wireaddr.c
+++ b/common/wireaddr.c
@@ -270,7 +270,8 @@ static bool separate_address_and_port(const tal_t *ctx, const char *arg,
 }
 
 bool wireaddr_from_hostname(struct wireaddr *addr, const char *hostname,
-			    const u16 port, bool dns_ok, const char **err_msg)
+			    const u16 port, bool *no_dns,
+			    const char **err_msg)
 {
 	struct sockaddr_in6 *sa6;
 	struct sockaddr_in *sa4;
@@ -279,6 +280,9 @@ bool wireaddr_from_hostname(struct wireaddr *addr, const char *hostname,
 	int gai_err;
 	bool res = false;
 
+	if (no_dns)
+		*no_dns = false;
+
 	/* Don't do lookup on onion addresses. */
 	if (strends(hostname, ".onion")) {
 		u8 *dec = b32_decode(tmpctx, hostname,
@@ -299,13 +303,19 @@ bool wireaddr_from_hostname(struct wireaddr *addr, const char *hostname,
 		return true;
 	}
 
+	/* Tell them we wanted DNS and fail. */
+	if (no_dns) {
+		if (err_msg)
+			*err_msg = "Needed DNS, but lookups suppressed";
+		*no_dns = true;
+		return false;
+	}
+
 	memset(&hints, 0, sizeof(hints));
 	hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
 	hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
 	hints.ai_protocol = 0;
 	hints.ai_flags = AI_ADDRCONFIG;
-	if (!dns_ok)
-		hints.ai_flags = AI_NUMERICHOST;
 	gai_err = getaddrinfo(hostname, tal_fmt(tmpctx, "%d", port),
 			      &hints, &addrinfo);
 	if (gai_err != 0) {
@@ -330,7 +340,7 @@ bool wireaddr_from_hostname(struct wireaddr *addr, const char *hostname,
 }
 
 bool parse_wireaddr(const char *arg, struct wireaddr *addr, u16 defport,
-		    bool dns_ok, const char **err_msg)
+		    bool *no_dns, const char **err_msg)
 {
 	struct in6_addr v6;
 	struct in_addr v4;
@@ -363,7 +373,7 @@ bool parse_wireaddr(const char *arg, struct wireaddr *addr, u16 defport,
 
 	/* Resolve with getaddrinfo */
 	if (!res)
-		res = wireaddr_from_hostname(addr, ip, port, dns_ok, err_msg);
+		res = wireaddr_from_hostname(addr, ip, port, no_dns, err_msg);
 
 finish:
 	if (!res && err_msg && !*err_msg)
@@ -377,6 +387,7 @@ bool parse_wireaddr_internal(const char *arg, struct wireaddr_internal *addr,
 {
 	u16 wildport;
 	char *ip;
+	bool needed_dns;
 
 	/* Addresses starting with '/' are local socket paths */
 	if (arg[0] == '/') {
@@ -408,12 +419,14 @@ bool parse_wireaddr_internal(const char *arg, struct wireaddr_internal *addr,
 	if (strstarts(arg, "autotor:")) {
 		addr->itype = ADDR_INTERNAL_AUTOTOR;
 		return parse_wireaddr(arg + strlen("autotor:"),
-				      &addr->u.torservice, 9051, dns_ok,
+				      &addr->u.torservice, 9051,
+				      dns_ok ? NULL : &needed_dns,
 				      err_msg);
 	}
 
 	addr->itype = ADDR_INTERNAL_WIREADDR;
-	return parse_wireaddr(arg, &addr->u.wireaddr, port, dns_ok, err_msg);
+	return parse_wireaddr(arg, &addr->u.wireaddr, port,
+			      dns_ok ? NULL : &needed_dns, err_msg);
 }
 
 void wireaddr_from_sockname(struct wireaddr_internal *addr,
diff --git a/common/wireaddr.h b/common/wireaddr.h
index 8e62e5c50..a62ee9db5 100644
--- a/common/wireaddr.h
+++ b/common/wireaddr.h
@@ -75,14 +75,19 @@ enum addr_listen_announce fromwire_addr_listen_announce(const u8 **cursor,
 							size_t *max);
 void towire_addr_listen_announce(u8 **pptr, enum addr_listen_announce ala);
 
+/* If no_dns is non-NULL, we will set it to true and return false if
+ * we wanted to do a DNS lookup. */
 bool parse_wireaddr(const char *arg, struct wireaddr *addr, u16 port,
-		    bool dns_ok, const char **err_msg);
+		    bool *no_dns, const char **err_msg);
 
 char *fmt_wireaddr(const tal_t *ctx, const struct wireaddr *a);
 char *fmt_wireaddr_without_port(const tal_t *ctx, const struct wireaddr *a);
 
+/* If no_dns is non-NULL, we will set it to true and return false if
+ * we wanted to do a DNS lookup. */
 bool wireaddr_from_hostname(struct wireaddr *addr, const char *hostname,
-			    const u16 port, bool dns_ok, const char **err_msg);
+			    const u16 port, bool *no_dns,
+			    const char **err_msg);
 
 void wireaddr_from_ipv4(struct wireaddr *addr,
 			const struct in_addr *ip4,
diff --git a/gossipd/gossip.c b/gossipd/gossip.c
index e0e26c4c5..ad7d9d214 100644
--- a/gossipd/gossip.c
+++ b/gossipd/gossip.c
@@ -1932,8 +1932,7 @@ static struct io_plan *conn_proxy_init(struct io_conn *conn,
 }
 
 static struct addrhint *
-seed_resolve_addr(const tal_t *ctx, const struct pubkey *id, const u16 port,
-		  bool dns_ok)
+seed_resolve_addr(const tal_t *ctx, const struct pubkey *id, const u16 port)
 {
 	struct addrhint *a;
 	char bech32[100], *addr;
@@ -1949,7 +1948,7 @@ seed_resolve_addr(const tal_t *ctx, const struct pubkey *id, const u16 port,
 
 	a = tal(ctx, struct addrhint);
 	a->addr.itype = ADDR_INTERNAL_WIREADDR;
-	if (!wireaddr_from_hostname(&a->addr.u.wireaddr, addr, port, dns_ok,
+	if (!wireaddr_from_hostname(&a->addr.u.wireaddr, addr, port, NULL,
 				    NULL)) {
 		status_trace("Could not resolve %s", addr);
 		return tal_free(a);
@@ -2036,9 +2035,8 @@ static void try_reach_peer(struct daemon *daemon, const struct pubkey *id,
 					daemon->rstate,
 					id);
 
-	if (!a)
-		a = seed_resolve_addr(tmpctx, id, 9735,
-				      !daemon->use_proxy_always);
+	if (!a && !daemon->use_proxy_always)
+		a = seed_resolve_addr(tmpctx, id, 9735);
 
 	if (!a) {
 		status_debug("No address known for %s, giving up",
diff --git a/lightningd/options.c b/lightningd/options.c
index f775fc9f6..a176542c9 100644
--- a/lightningd/options.c
+++ b/lightningd/options.c
@@ -299,15 +299,17 @@ static char *opt_set_offline(struct lightningd *ld)
 
 static char *opt_add_proxy_addr(const char *arg, struct lightningd *ld)
 {
+	bool needed_dns;
 	tal_free(ld->proxyaddr);
 
 	/* We use a tal_arr here, so we can marshal it to gossipd */
 	ld->proxyaddr = tal_arr(ld, struct wireaddr, 1);
 
-	if (!parse_wireaddr(arg, ld->proxyaddr, 9050, !ld->use_proxy_always,
+	if (!parse_wireaddr(arg, ld->proxyaddr, 9050,
+			    ld->use_proxy_always ? &needed_dns : NULL,
 			    NULL)) {
-		return tal_fmt(NULL, "Unable to parse Tor proxy address '%s'",
-			       arg);
+		return tal_fmt(NULL, "Unable to parse Tor proxy address '%s' %s",
+			       arg, needed_dns ? " (needed dns)" : "");
 	}
 	return NULL;
 }