diff --git a/roomserver/query/query.go b/roomserver/query/query.go
index a62a1f706..19207b09d 100644
--- a/roomserver/query/query.go
+++ b/roomserver/query/query.go
@@ -617,42 +617,42 @@ func (r *RoomserverQueryAPI) QueryStateAndAuthChain(
 func getAuthChain(
 	ctx context.Context, dB RoomserverQueryAPIEventDB, authEventIDs []string,
 ) ([]gomatrixserverlib.Event, error) {
-	var authEvents []gomatrixserverlib.Event
-
-	// List of event ids to fetch. These will be added to the result and
-	// their auth events will be fetched (if they haven't been previously)
 	eventsToFetch := authEventIDs
+	authEventsMap := make(map[string]gomatrixserverlib.Event)
 
-	// Set of events we've already fetched.
-	fetchedEventMap := make(map[string]bool)
-
-	// Check if there's anything left to do
 	for len(eventsToFetch) > 0 {
-		// Convert eventIDs to events. First need to fetch NIDs
+		// Try to retrieve the events from the database
 		events, err := dB.EventsFromIDs(ctx, eventsToFetch)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		// Work out a) which events we should add to the returned list of
-		// events and b) which of the auth events we haven't seen yet and
-		// add them to the list of events to fetch.
+		// Clear out the events to fetch, since we have already requested them, and
+		// we may now get new ones
 		eventsToFetch = eventsToFetch[:0]
-		for _, event := range events {
-			fetchedEventMap[event.EventID()] = true
-			authEvents = append(authEvents, event.Event)
 
-			// Now we need to fetch any auth events that we haven't
-			// previously seen.
-			for _, authEventID := range event.AuthEventIDs() {
-				if !fetchedEventMap[authEventID] {
-					fetchedEventMap[authEventID] = true
-					eventsToFetch = append(eventsToFetch, authEventID)
+		for _, event := range events {
+			// Store the event in the event map - this prevents us from requesting it
+			// again, and we'll return this later
+			authEventsMap[event.EventID()] = event.Event
+
+			// Extract all of the auth events from the newly obtained event. If we
+			// don't already have a record of the event, record it in the list of
+			// events we want to request
+			for _, authEvent := range event.AuthEvents() {
+				if _, ok := authEventsMap[authEvent.EventID]; !ok {
+					eventsToFetch = append(eventsToFetch, authEvent.EventID)
 				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Flatten the event map down into an array
+	var authEvents []gomatrixserverlib.Event
+	for _, event := range authEventsMap {
+		authEvents = append(authEvents, event)
+	}
+
 	return authEvents, nil
 }