diff --git a/lisp/help-fns.el b/lisp/help-fns.el
index 3f1b56c888d..a7219ede944 100644
--- a/lisp/help-fns.el
+++ b/lisp/help-fns.el
@@ -1222,7 +1222,14 @@ it is displayed along with the global value."
               ;; Output the indented administrative bits.
               (with-current-buffer buffer
                 (help-fns--run-describe-functions
-                 help-fns-describe-variable-functions variable)))
+                 help-fns-describe-variable-functions variable))
+
+              (with-current-buffer standard-output
+                ;; If we have the long value of the variable at the
+                ;; end, remove superfluous empty lines before it.
+                (unless (eobp)
+                  (while (looking-at-p "\n")
+                    (delete-char 1)))))
 
 	    (with-current-buffer standard-output
 	      ;; Return the text we displayed.