diff --git a/helix-term/src/application.rs b/helix-term/src/application.rs
index 0f5892e979729..f58dfde388067 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/application.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/application.rs
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ fn load_lang_config(path: std::path::PathBuf) -> Result<toml::Value, Error> {
 }
 
 impl Application {
-    pub fn new(args: Args, mut config: Config) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+    pub fn new(args: Args) -> Result<Self, Error> {
         use helix_view::editor::Action;
 
         // These configuration directories can contain `config.toml` and `languages.toml`.
@@ -68,24 +68,42 @@ impl Application {
         let config_dir = helix_core::config_dir();
         let local_config_dir = helix_core::local_config_dir();
         let cwd = std::env::current_dir().expect("unable to determine current directory");
+        if !config_dir.exists() {
+            std::fs::create_dir_all(&config_dir).ok();
+        }
+
+        // `config.toml`
+        let mut config = match std::fs::read_to_string(config_dir.join("config.toml")) {
+            Ok(config) => toml::from_str(&config)
+                .map(crate::keymap::merge_keys)
+                .unwrap_or_else(|err| {
+                    eprintln!("Bad config: {}", err);
+                    eprintln!("Press <ENTER> to continue with default config");
+                    use std::io::Read;
+                    // This waits for an enter press.
+                    let _ = std::io::stdin().read(&mut []);
+                    Config::default()
+                }),
+            Err(err) if err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => Config::default(),
+            Err(err) => return Err(Error::new(err)),
+        };
 
         // Config override order: local (cwd) -> local (root) -> global -> default.
         // Read and parse the `languages.toml` files as TOML objects.
         let default_lang_config: toml::Value =
             toml::from_slice(include_bytes!("../../languages.toml"))
                 .expect("failed to read the default `languages.toml`");
-        let lang_config = {
+        let lang_config: toml::Value = {
             let local_cwd_config = load_lang_config(cwd.join(".helix/languages.toml"))?;
             let local_root_config = load_lang_config(local_config_dir.join("languages.toml"))?;
             let global_config = load_lang_config(config_dir.join("languages.toml"))?;
-
-            merge_toml_values(
+            [
+                local_root_config,
+                global_config,
                 default_lang_config.clone(),
-                merge_toml_values(
-                    global_config,
-                    merge_toml_values(local_root_config, local_cwd_config),
-                ),
-            )
+            ]
+            .into_iter()
+            .fold(local_cwd_config, |a, b| merge_toml_values(b, a))
         };
 
         // Convert previous `toml::Value`s into the config type.
diff --git a/helix-term/src/main.rs b/helix-term/src/main.rs
index 685b0d3818a06..6c3b9a4ba7f3e 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/main.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/main.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-use anyhow::{Context, Error, Result};
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use helix_term::application::Application;
 use helix_term::args::Args;
-use helix_term::config::Config;
-use helix_term::keymap::merge_keys;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 fn setup_logging(logpath: PathBuf, verbosity: u64) -> Result<()> {
@@ -78,40 +76,15 @@ FLAGS:
     if args.display_help {
         print!("{}", help);
         std::process::exit(0);
-    }
-
-    if args.display_version {
+    } else if args.display_version {
         println!("helix {}", env!("VERSION_AND_GIT_HASH"));
         std::process::exit(0);
     }
 
-    let config_dir = helix_core::config_dir();
-    if !config_dir.exists() {
-        std::fs::create_dir_all(&config_dir).ok();
-    }
-
-    // `config.toml`
-    let config = match std::fs::read_to_string(config_dir.join("config.toml")) {
-        Ok(config) => toml::from_str(&config)
-            .map(merge_keys)
-            .unwrap_or_else(|err| {
-                eprintln!("Bad config: {}", err);
-                eprintln!("Press <ENTER> to continue with default config");
-                use std::io::Read;
-                // This waits for an enter press.
-                let _ = std::io::stdin().read(&mut []);
-                Config::default()
-            }),
-        Err(err) if err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => Config::default(),
-        Err(err) => return Err(Error::new(err)),
-    };
-
     setup_logging(logpath, args.verbosity).context("failed to initialize logging")?;
 
     // TODO: use the thread local executor to spawn the application task separately from the work pool
-    let mut app = Application::new(args, config).context("unable to create new application")?;
-
+    let mut app = Application::new(args).context("unable to create new application")?;
     let exit_code = app.run().await?;
-
     Ok(exit_code)
 }