diff --git a/src/protocol/parser/token_parsing.rs b/src/protocol/parser/token_parsing.rs
index 86176ef6bf8a7a5d9982069c185d4feb5a0aa2f0..3e265270f8f0375198d1a606c0cdf7c51fe4bcce 100644
--- a/src/protocol/parser/token_parsing.rs
+++ b/src/protocol/parser/token_parsing.rs
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ pub(crate) fn consume_token(source: &InputSource, iter: &mut TokenIter, expected
     Ok(span)
 }
 
-/// Consumes a comma separated list until the closing delimiter is encountered
+/// Consumes a comma separated list until the closing delimiter is encountered.
+/// The closing delimiter is consumed as well.
 pub(crate) fn consume_comma_separated_until<T, F, E>(
     close_delim: TokenKind, source: &InputSource, iter: &mut TokenIter, ctx: &mut PassCtx,
     mut consumer_fn: F, target: &mut E, item_name_and_article: &'static str,
@@ -356,19 +357,20 @@ pub(crate) fn consume_character_literal(
         ));
     }
 
+    debug_assert!(char_text.len() >= 2); // always includes the bounding "'"
     match char_text.len() {
-        0 => return Err(ParseError::new_error_str_at_span(source, span, "too little characters in character literal")),
-        1 => {
+        2 => return Err(ParseError::new_error_str_at_span(source, span, "too little characters in character literal")),
+        3 => {
             // We already know the text is ascii, so just throw an error if we have the escape
             // character.
-            if char_text[0] == b'\\' {
+            if char_text[1] == b'\\' {
                 return Err(ParseError::new_error_str_at_span(source, span, "escape character without subsequent character"));
             }
-            return Ok((char_text[0] as char, span));
+            return Ok((char_text[1] as char, span));
         },
-        2 => {
-            if char_text[0] == b'\\' {
-                let result = parse_escaped_character(source, span, char_text[1])?;
+        4 => {
+            if char_text[1] == b'\\' {
+                let result = parse_escaped_character(source, span, char_text[2])?;
                 return Ok((result, span))
             }
         },