diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py b/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
index 83056e396..0880a247c 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/qutescheme.py
@@ -123,8 +123,7 @@ class add_handler:  # pylint: disable=invalid-name
                             title="Error while opening qute://url",
                             url=url.toDisplayString(),
                             error='{} is not available with this '
-                                  'backend'.format(url.toDisplayString()),
-                            icon='')
+                                  'backend'.format(url.toDisplayString()))
         return 'text/html', html
 
 
@@ -415,8 +414,7 @@ def qute_help(url):
                   "properly. If you are running qutebrowser from the git "
                   "repository, please run scripts/asciidoc2html.py. "
                   "If you're running a released version this is a bug, please "
-                  "use :report to report it.",
-            icon='')
+                  "use :report to report it.")
         return 'text/html', html
     urlpath = url.path()
     if not urlpath or urlpath == '/':
diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webenginetab.py b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webenginetab.py
index 1345e8001..fa443918f 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webenginetab.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webenginetab.py
@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@ class WebEngineTab(browsertab.AbstractTab):
                 error_page = jinja.render(
                     'error.html',
                     title="Error loading page: {}".format(url_string),
-                    url=url_string, error="Authentication required", icon='')
+                    url=url_string, error="Authentication required")
                 self.set_html(error_page)
 
     @pyqtSlot('QWebEngineFullScreenRequest')
diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webview.py b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webview.py
index fcad18206..60ea06914 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webview.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/webengine/webview.py
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ class WebEnginePage(QWebEnginePage):
         url_string = url.toDisplayString()
         error_page = jinja.render(
             'error.html', title="Error loading page: {}".format(url_string),
-            url=url_string, error=str(error), icon='')
+            url=url_string, error=str(error))
 
         if error.is_overridable():
             ignore = shared.ignore_certificate_errors(
diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/network/filescheme.py b/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/network/filescheme.py
index 2f3a3ff18..e379b6738 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/network/filescheme.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/network/filescheme.py
@@ -101,13 +101,12 @@ def dirbrowser_html(path):
     except OSError as e:
         html = jinja.render('error.html',
                             title="Error while reading directory",
-                            url='file:///{}'.format(path), error=str(e),
-                            icon='')
+                            url='file:///{}'.format(path), error=str(e))
         return html.encode('UTF-8', errors='xmlcharrefreplace')
 
     files = get_file_list(path, all_files, os.path.isfile)
     directories = get_file_list(path, all_files, os.path.isdir)
-    html = jinja.render('dirbrowser.html', title=title, url=path, icon='',
+    html = jinja.render('dirbrowser.html', title=title, url=path,
                         parent=parent, files=files, directories=directories)
     return html.encode('UTF-8', errors='xmlcharrefreplace')
 
diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/webpage.py b/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/webpage.py
index 70750eef8..59d91616e 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/webpage.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/webkit/webpage.py
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class BrowserPage(QWebPage):
             title = "Error loading page: {}".format(urlstr)
             error_html = jinja.render(
                 'error.html',
-                title=title, url=urlstr, error=error_str, icon='')
+                title=title, url=urlstr, error=error_str)
             errpage.content = error_html.encode('utf-8')
             errpage.encoding = 'utf-8'
             return True
diff --git a/qutebrowser/html/base.html b/qutebrowser/html/base.html
index 699740025..f21eb227b 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/html/base.html
+++ b/qutebrowser/html/base.html
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@ vim: ft=html fileencoding=utf-8 sts=4 sw=4 et:
     <head>
         <meta charset="utf-8">
         <title>{{ title }}</title>
-        {% if icon %}
-            <link rel='icon' type='image/png' href="{{ icon }}">
-        {% endif %}
         <style type="text/css">
             {% block style %}
             body {
diff --git a/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py b/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
index dfa5ed277..2d1b2d5ed 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/mainwindow/tabbedbrowser.py
@@ -707,7 +707,7 @@ class TabbedBrowser(tabwidget.TabWidget):
             url_string = tab.url(requested=True).toDisplayString()
             error_page = jinja.render(
                 'error.html', title="Error loading {}".format(url_string),
-                url=url_string, error=msg, icon='')
+                url=url_string, error=msg)
             QTimer.singleShot(0, lambda: tab.set_html(error_page))
             log.webview.error(msg)
         else: