diff --git a/roomserver/state/state.go b/roomserver/state/state.go
index 6c4e4b860..4ef30380f 100644
--- a/roomserver/state/state.go
+++ b/roomserver/state/state.go
@@ -1027,7 +1027,7 @@ func (v *StateResolution) loadStateEvents(
 
 	result := make([]*gomatrixserverlib.Event, 0, len(entries))
 	eventEntries := make([]types.StateEntry, 0, len(entries))
-	eventNIDs := make([]types.EventNID, 0, len(entries))
+	eventNIDs := make(types.EventNIDs, 0, len(entries))
 	for _, entry := range entries {
 		if e, ok := v.events[entry.EventNID]; ok {
 			result = append(result, e)
@@ -1036,6 +1036,7 @@ func (v *StateResolution) loadStateEvents(
 			eventNIDs = append(eventNIDs, entry.EventNID)
 		}
 	}
+	sort.Sort(eventNIDs)
 	events, err := v.db.Events(ctx, eventNIDs)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, nil, err
diff --git a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
index fa97a50fc..abcd3403b 100644
--- a/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
+++ b/roomserver/storage/shared/storage.go
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ func (d *Database) events(
 	results := make([]types.Event, 0, len(inputEventNIDs))
 	for _, nid := range inputEventNIDs {
 		event, ok := events[nid]
-		if !ok {
+		if !ok || event == nil {
 			panic("missing event")
 		}
 		results = append(results, types.Event{