diff --git a/src/ax.h b/src/ax.h
index 9c3667c..34ac88e 100644
--- a/src/ax.h
+++ b/src/ax.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ void ax_log(struct ax_ctxt* ax, const char* string);
  * -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
 void ax_begin_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax);
-void ax_end_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax, struct ax_theme** out_thm);
+struct ax_theme* ax_end_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax);
 
 void ax_set_theme_color(
     struct ax_ctxt* ax, const char* cat, int64_t rgb);
diff --git a/src/ctxt/ctxt.c b/src/ctxt/ctxt.c
index 365dcc4..ee06ed0 100644
--- a/src/ctxt/ctxt.c
+++ b/src/ctxt/ctxt.c
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ void ax_begin_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax)
     ax->thmb = ax__theme_builder_new(ax->thmb_rgn);
 }
 
-void ax_end_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax, struct ax_theme** out_thm)
+struct ax_theme* ax_end_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax)
 {
     ASSERT(ax->thmb != NULL, "`ax_end_theme' called while not building a theme");
 
@@ -116,10 +116,7 @@ void ax_end_theme(struct ax_ctxt* ax, struct ax_theme** out_thm)
     rgn_clear(ax->thmb_rgn);
 
     ax__theme_load(thm, ax__backend_msgq(ax->bac));
-
-    if (out_thm != NULL) {
-        *out_thm = thm;
-    }
+    return thm;
 }
 
 void ax_set_theme_color(
diff --git a/test/main.c b/test/main.c
index 714c353..9322e22 100644
--- a/test/main.c
+++ b/test/main.c
@@ -27,9 +27,7 @@ static struct ax_theme* make_example_theme()
     ax_set_theme_color(ax, "primary", 0x00ff00);
     ax_set_theme_font(ax, "default", "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/DejaVuSans.ttf", 0);
     ax_set_theme_font(ax, "h1", NULL, 95);
-    struct ax_theme* thm;
-    ax_end_theme(ax, &thm);
-    return thm;
+    return ax_end_theme(ax);
 }
 
 int main(void)