diff --git a/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatText.java b/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatText.java
index bd201f4..750c241 100644
--- a/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatText.java
+++ b/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatText.java
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ private ChatText() {
 	 * already a valid username, else null.
 	 */
 	static String resolveRealName(Component message, String displayed) {
+		if (displayed == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
+		if (message == null) {
+			String cleaned = displayed.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9_]", "");
+			return IGN.matcher(cleaned).matches() ? cleaned : null;
+		}
 		List<MetaChar> chars = flatten(message);
 		String text = text(chars);
 		int start = text.indexOf(displayed);
@@ -74,6 +81,9 @@ static String resolveRealName(Component message, String displayed) {
 	 * no metadata is present (caller falls back to the displayed name).
 	 */
 	public static String resolveRealNameAnywhere(Component message, String displayed) {
+		if (message == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
 		Set<String> candidates = new LinkedHashSet<>();
 		message.visit((style, fragment) -> {
 			String hover = hoverRealName(style);
@@ -113,6 +123,9 @@ public static String resolveRealNameAnywhere(Component message, String displayed
 	}
 
 	private static List<MetaChar> flatten(Component message) {
+		if (message == null) {
+			return List.of();
+		}
 		List<MetaChar> out = new ArrayList<>();
 		message.visit((style, fragment) -> {
 			String hover = hoverRealName(style);
diff --git a/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolver.java b/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolver.java
index 7a21774..7fe2624 100644
--- a/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolver.java
+++ b/src/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolver.java
@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ public static void reset() {
 
 	/** Resolve a rendered player name and retain any hover-provided nickname mapping. */
 	public static String resolve(Component message, String displayed) {
+		if (displayed == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
 		// A reward/bank line can contain several player names. Resolving from every
 		// hover in the whole component made the receiver inherit the giver's hover
 		// (e.g. a catboy/FadeDave hover turned every recipient into FadeDave). Only
 		// accept metadata attached to this displayed span; a previously learned alias
 		// is the safe fallback when the server omits that span's hover.
-		String resolved = ChatText.resolveRealName(message, displayed);
+		String resolved = message != null ? ChatText.resolveRealName(message, displayed) : null;
 		if (resolved == null) {
 			resolved = canonicalize(displayed);
 		}
diff --git a/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatTextTest.java b/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatTextTest.java
index f17c416..1ace502 100644
--- a/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatTextTest.java
+++ b/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/ChatTextTest.java
@@ -82,6 +82,18 @@ void resolveRealNameAnywhereReturnsNullWithNoHoverOrInsertionMetadata() {
 		assertNull(ChatText.resolveRealNameAnywhere(message, "plain"));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void resolveRealNameHandlesNullMessageSafely() {
+		assertEquals("Asthae", ChatText.resolveRealName(null, "Asthae"));
+		assertNull(ChatText.resolveRealName(null, "some weird nickname"));
+		assertNull(ChatText.resolveRealName(null, null));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void resolveRealNameAnywhereHandlesNullMessageSafely() {
+		assertNull(ChatText.resolveRealNameAnywhere(null, "plain"));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void resolveClickTargetNamePeelsANickSlashRealSuffix() {
 		Component message = Component.literal("catboy/FadeDave");
diff --git a/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolverTest.java b/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolverTest.java
index 45ff1ff..a29c9b2 100644
--- a/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolverTest.java
+++ b/test/tel/eden/mod/chat/PlayerNameResolverTest.java
@@ -87,4 +87,10 @@ void learnFromTextIgnoresUnknownWordsAndLearnsKnownPlayer() {
 		PlayerNameResolver.learnFromText("KnownUser/NickBuddy joined!");
 		assertEquals(Optional.of("KnownUser"), PlayerNameResolver.resolveKnown("NickBuddy"));
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	void resolveHandlesNullMessageSafely() {
+		assertEquals("SomePlayer", PlayerNameResolver.resolve(null, "SomePlayer"));
+		assertEquals(null, PlayerNameResolver.resolve(null, null));
+	}
 }