diff --git a/src/Compilation/Config.zig b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
index ea9929bbcd70986deacc74d28f94660b060dd217..ce180f9ead8c4f545f4e5e8ea2a6ecc3c7b33179 100644
--- a/src/Compilation/Config.zig
+++ b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ pub const ResolveError = error{
     ZigLacksTargetSupport,
     EmittingBinaryRequiresLlvmLibrary,
     LldIncompatibleObjectFormat,
-    LldCannotIncrementallyLink,
+    LldIncompatibleWithSelfHostedBackend,
     LtoRequiresLld,
     SanitizeThreadRequiresLibCpp,
     LibCRequiresLibUnwind,
@@ -400,10 +400,10 @@ pub fn resolve(options: Options) ResolveError!Config {
             break :b true;
         }
 
-        // If there's no ZCU we aren't using the LLVM backend but
-        // it shouldn't influence which linker we pick
-        if (!use_llvm and options.have_zcu) {
-            if (options.use_lld == true) return error.LldCannotIncrementallyLink;
+        // If we have Zig code (i.e. a ZCU) and are compiling with a self-hosted backend, then we
+        // also need to use a self-hosted linker.
+        if (options.have_zcu and !use_llvm) {
+            if (options.use_lld == true) return error.LldIncompatibleWithSelfHostedBackend;
             break :b false;
         }
 
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 7dc632c7b184298e3d4b7f5242cd69281ef5c334..e55100f89171452f0d1d9e457d8595c8756d8319 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -4115,7 +4115,7 @@ fn createModule(
             error.ZigLacksTargetSupport => fatal("compiler backend unavailable for the specified target", .{}),
             error.EmittingBinaryRequiresLlvmLibrary => fatal("producing machine code via LLVM requires using the LLVM library", .{}),
             error.LldIncompatibleObjectFormat => fatal("using LLD to link {s} files is unsupported", .{@tagName(target.ofmt)}),
-            error.LldCannotIncrementallyLink => fatal("self-hosted backends do not support linking with LLD", .{}),
+            error.LldIncompatibleWithSelfHostedBackend => fatal("self-hosted backends do not support linking with LLD", .{}),
             error.LtoRequiresLld => fatal("LTO requires using LLD", .{}),
             error.SanitizeThreadRequiresLibCpp => fatal("thread sanitization is (for now) implemented in C++, so it requires linking libc++", .{}),
             error.LibCRequiresLibUnwind => fatal("libc of the specified target requires linking libunwind", .{}),