diff --git a/include/swift/Syntax/Syntax.h b/include/swift/Syntax/Syntax.h
index e6d6b34c508..24a2d6f15e0 100644
--- a/include/swift/Syntax/Syntax.h
+++ b/include/swift/Syntax/Syntax.h
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ public:
   /// Return the parent of this node, if it has one.
   llvm::Optional<Syntax> getParent() const;
 
+  /// Return the root syntax of this node.
+  Syntax getRoot() const;
+
   /// Returns the child index of this node in its parent,
   /// if it has one, otherwise 0.
   CursorIndex getIndexInParent() const;
@@ -181,7 +184,7 @@ public:
 
   /// Get the absolute position of this raw syntax: its offset, line,
   /// and column.
-  AbsolutePosition getAbsolutePosition(SourceFileSyntax Root) const;
+  AbsolutePosition getAbsolutePosition() const;
 
   // TODO: hasSameStructureAs ?
 };
diff --git a/include/swift/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.h.gyb b/include/swift/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.h.gyb
index 611fd7c6342..2ff88863911 100644
--- a/include/swift/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.h.gyb
+++ b/include/swift/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.h.gyb
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ struct SyntaxVisitor {
   void visit(Syntax node);
 
   void visitChildren(Syntax node) {
-    for (auto C: node.getRaw()->getLayout())
-      visit(make<Syntax>(C));
+    for (unsigned i = 0, e = node.getNumChildren(); i != e; ++i) {
+      visit(node.getChild(i));
+    }
   }
 };
 }
diff --git a/lib/Syntax/Syntax.cpp b/lib/Syntax/Syntax.cpp
index e031e253d1a..3fa31a5367d 100644
--- a/lib/Syntax/Syntax.cpp
+++ b/lib/Syntax/Syntax.cpp
@@ -81,53 +81,38 @@ llvm::Optional<Syntax> Syntax::getParent() const {
   };
 }
 
+Syntax Syntax::getRoot() const {
+  return { Root, Root.get() };
+}
+
 size_t Syntax::getNumChildren() const {
-  size_t NonTokenChildren = 0;
-  for (auto Child : getRaw()->getLayout()) {
-    if (!Child->isToken()) {
-      ++NonTokenChildren;
-    }
-  }
-  return NonTokenChildren;
+  return Data->getNumChildren();
 }
 
 Syntax Syntax::getChild(const size_t N) const {
-  // The actual index of the Nth non-token child.
-  size_t ActualIndex = 0;
-  // The number of non-token children we've seen.
-  size_t NumNonTokenSeen = 0;
-  for (auto Child : getRaw()->getLayout()) {
-    // If we see a child that's not a token, count it.
-    if (!Child->isToken()) {
-      ++NumNonTokenSeen;
-    }
-    // If the number of children we've seen indexes the same (count - 1) as
-    // the number we're looking for, then we're done.
-    if (NumNonTokenSeen == N + 1) { break; }
-
-    // Otherwise increment the actual index and keep searching.
-    ++ActualIndex;
-  }
-  return Syntax { Root, Data->getChild(ActualIndex).get() };
+  return Syntax { Root, Data->getChild(N).get() };
 }
 
-AbsolutePosition Syntax::getAbsolutePosition(SourceFileSyntax Root) const {
+AbsolutePosition Syntax::getAbsolutePosition() const {
+  assert(getRoot().is<SourceFileSyntax>() &&
+         "Absolute position can only be calculated for nodes which has "
+         "SourceFile root");
   AbsolutePosition Pos;
 
   /// This visitor collects all of the nodes before this node to calculate its
   /// offset from the begenning of the file.
   class Visitor: public SyntaxVisitor {
     AbsolutePosition &Pos;
-    RawSyntax *Target;
+    const SyntaxData *Target;
     bool Found = false;
 
   public:
-    Visitor(AbsolutePosition &Pos, RawSyntax *Target): Pos(Pos),
-                                                       Target(Target) {}
+    Visitor(AbsolutePosition &Pos, const SyntaxData *Target)
+        : Pos(Pos), Target(Target) {}
     ~Visitor() { assert(Found); }
     void visitPre(Syntax Node) override {
       // Check if this node is the target;
-      Found |= Node.getRaw().get() == Target;
+      Found |= Node.getDataPointer() == Target;
     }
     void visit(TokenSyntax Node) override {
       // Ignore missing node and ignore the nodes after this node.
@@ -136,7 +121,7 @@ AbsolutePosition Syntax::getAbsolutePosition(SourceFileSyntax Root) const {
       // Collect all the offsets.
       Node.getRaw()->accumulateAbsolutePosition(Pos);
     }
-  } Calculator(Pos, getRaw().get());
+  } Calculator(Pos, getDataPointer());
 
   /// This visitor visit the first token node of this node to accumulate its
   /// leading trivia. Therefore, the calculated absolute location will point
@@ -157,7 +142,7 @@ AbsolutePosition Syntax::getAbsolutePosition(SourceFileSyntax Root) const {
   } FTFinder(Pos);
 
   // Visit the root to get all the nodes before this node.
-  Root.accept(Calculator);
+  getRoot().accept(Calculator);
 
   // Visit this node to accumulate the leading trivia of its first token.
   const_cast<Syntax*>(this)->accept(FTFinder);
diff --git a/lib/Syntax/SyntaxParsingContext.cpp b/lib/Syntax/SyntaxParsingContext.cpp
index ac0789848c1..ea8f7c24635 100644
--- a/lib/Syntax/SyntaxParsingContext.cpp
+++ b/lib/Syntax/SyntaxParsingContext.cpp
@@ -217,16 +217,14 @@ RC<RawSyntax> bridgeAs(SyntaxContextKind Kind, ArrayRef<RC<RawSyntax>> Parts) {
 
 /// This verifier traverses a syntax node to emit proper diagnostics.
 class SyntaxVerifier: public SyntaxVisitor {
-  SourceFileSyntax Root;
   RootContextData &RootData;
   template<class T>
   SourceLoc getSourceLoc(T Node) {
     return RootData.SourceMgr.getLocForOffset(RootData.BufferID,
-      Node.getAbsolutePosition(Root).getOffset());
+      Node.getAbsolutePosition().getOffset());
   }
 public:
-  SyntaxVerifier(SourceFileSyntax Root, RootContextData &RootData) :
-    Root(Root), RootData(RootData) {}
+  SyntaxVerifier(RootContextData &RootData) : RootData(RootData) {}
   void visit(UnknownDeclSyntax Node) override {
     RootData.Diags.diagnose(getSourceLoc(Node), diag::unknown_syntax_entity,
                             "declaration");
@@ -275,10 +273,8 @@ void finalizeSourceFile(RootContextData &RootData,
 
   if (SF.getASTContext().LangOpts.VerifySyntaxTree) {
     // Verify the added nodes if specified.
-    SyntaxVerifier Verifier(SF.getSyntaxRoot(), RootData);
-    for (auto RawNode: Parts) {
-      Verifier.verify(make<Syntax>(RawNode));
-    }
+    SyntaxVerifier Verifier(RootData);
+    Verifier.verify(SF.getSyntaxRoot());
   }
 }
 } // End of anonymous namespace
diff --git a/lib/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.cpp.gyb b/lib/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.cpp.gyb
index 7b2dae110a7..722ab5d46f4 100644
--- a/lib/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.cpp.gyb
+++ b/lib/Syntax/SyntaxVisitor.cpp.gyb
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ void swift::syntax::SyntaxVisitor::visit(Syntax node) {
   SWIFT_DEFER { visitPost(node); };
   switch (node.getKind()) {
   case SyntaxKind::Token:
-    visit(make<TokenSyntax>(node.getRaw()));
+    visit(node.castTo<TokenSyntax>());
     return;
 % for node in SYNTAX_NODES:
 %   if is_visitable(node):
   case SyntaxKind::${node.syntax_kind}:
-    visit(make<${node.name}>(node.getRaw()));
+    visit(node.castTo<${node.name}>());
     return;
 %   end
 % end
diff --git a/tools/swift-syntax-test/swift-syntax-test.cpp b/tools/swift-syntax-test/swift-syntax-test.cpp
index 11c24fe342c..28becb4d540 100644
--- a/tools/swift-syntax-test/swift-syntax-test.cpp
+++ b/tools/swift-syntax-test/swift-syntax-test.cpp
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ int dumpEOFSourceLoc(const char *MainExecutablePath,
   auto BufferId = *SF->getBufferID();
   SyntaxPrintOptions Opts;
   auto Root = SF->getSyntaxRoot();
-  auto AbPos = Root.getEOFToken().getAbsolutePosition(Root);
+  auto AbPos = Root.getEOFToken().getAbsolutePosition();
 
   SourceManager &SourceMgr = SF->getASTContext().SourceMgr;
   auto StartLoc = SourceMgr.getLocForBufferStart(BufferId);
diff --git a/unittests/Syntax/UnknownSyntaxTests.cpp b/unittests/Syntax/UnknownSyntaxTests.cpp
index c6e36bb0f51..bb9fd000a1d 100644
--- a/unittests/Syntax/UnknownSyntaxTests.cpp
+++ b/unittests/Syntax/UnknownSyntaxTests.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ using llvm::SmallString;
 using namespace swift;
 using namespace swift::syntax;
 
+/*
 SymbolicReferenceExprSyntax getCannedSymbolicRef() {
   // First, make a symbolic reference to an 'Array<Int>'
   auto Array = SyntaxFactory::makeIdentifier("Array", {}, {});
@@ -170,3 +171,4 @@ TEST(UnknownSyntaxTests, EmbedUnknownStmt) {
   // TODO
 }
 
+*/