diff --git a/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp b/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
--- a/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/Driver.cpp
@@ -609,9 +609,6 @@
 }
 
 static DiscardPolicy getDiscard(opt::InputArgList &args) {
-  if (args.hasArg(OPT_relocatable))
-    return DiscardPolicy::None;
-
   auto *arg =
       args.getLastArg(OPT_discard_all, OPT_discard_locals, OPT_discard_none);
   if (!arg)
diff --git a/lld/ELF/Writer.cpp b/lld/ELF/Writer.cpp
--- a/lld/ELF/Writer.cpp
+++ b/lld/ELF/Writer.cpp
@@ -560,8 +560,7 @@
 
 // The main function of the writer.
 template <class ELFT> void Writer<ELFT>::run() {
-  if (config->discard != DiscardPolicy::All)
-    copyLocalSymbols();
+  copyLocalSymbols();
 
   if (config->copyRelocs)
     addSectionSymbols();
@@ -642,14 +641,16 @@
   if (sym.isSection())
     return false;
 
-  if (config->discard == DiscardPolicy::None)
-    return true;
-
-  // If -emit-reloc is given, all symbols including local ones need to be
+  // If --emit-reloc or -r is given, all symbols including local ones need to be
   // copied because they may be referenced by relocations.
-  if (config->emitRelocs)
+  if (config->copyRelocs)
     return true;
 
+  if (config->discard == DiscardPolicy::None)
+    return true;
+  if (config->discard == DiscardPolicy::All)
+    return false;
+
   // In ELF assembly .L symbols are normally discarded by the assembler.
   // If the assembler fails to do so, the linker discards them if
   // * --discard-locals is used.
diff --git a/lld/test/ELF/emit-relocs-discard-locals.s b/lld/test/ELF/emit-relocs-discard-locals.s
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lld/test/ELF/emit-relocs-discard-locals.s
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# REQUIRES: x86
+## Test that --emit-relocs keeps local symbols and overrides --discard-{locals,all}.
+
+# RUN: llvm-mc -filetype=obj -triple=x86_64 -save-temp-labels %s -o %t.o
+
+# RUN: ld.lld --emit-relocs --discard-locals %t.o -o %tlocal
+# RUN: llvm-readelf -s %tlocal | FileCheck --check-prefixes=SYM,SYM-NOGC %s
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -r %tlocal | FileCheck --check-prefix=REL %s
+## --gc-sections can discard unneeded STT_SECTION symbols.
+# RUN: ld.lld --emit-relocs --discard-locals --gc-sections %t.o -o %tlocal.gc
+# RUN: llvm-readelf -s %tlocal.gc | FileCheck --check-prefix=SYM %s
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -r %tlocal | FileCheck --check-prefix=REL %s
+
+# RUN: ld.lld --emit-relocs --discard-all %t.o -o %tall
+# RUN: llvm-readelf -s %tall | FileCheck --check-prefixes=SYM,SYM-NOGC %s
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -r %tall | FileCheck --check-prefix=REL %s
+
+# SYM:           NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 .Lunused
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 .Lunused_gc
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 .Lused
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 unused
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 unused_gc
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 used
+# SYM-NEXT:      SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    1 .text
+# SYM-NEXT:      SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    2 text
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 unreferenced
+# SYM-NEXT:      SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    {{.*}} .comment
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  GLOBAL DEFAULT    1 _start
+
+# REL:      .rela.text {
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 text 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 .Lused 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 used 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT: }
+
+.globl _start
+_start:
+  call text@plt
+  jmp .Lused@plt
+  call used@plt
+
+.section text,"ax"
+.Lunused:
+.Lused:
+unused:
+used:
+
+.section unreferenced,"ax"
+.Lunused_gc:
+unused_gc:
+  ret
diff --git a/lld/test/ELF/relocatable-discard-locals.s b/lld/test/ELF/relocatable-discard-locals.s
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lld/test/ELF/relocatable-discard-locals.s
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# REQUIRES: x86
+## Test that -r keeps local symbols and overrides --discard-{locals,all}.
+## Also see --emit-relocs-discard-locals.s
+
+# RUN: llvm-mc -filetype=obj -triple=x86_64 -save-temp-labels %s -o %t.o
+
+# RUN: ld.lld -r --discard-locals %t.o -o %tlocal.ro
+# RUN: llvm-readelf -s %tlocal.ro | FileCheck --check-prefixes=SYM,SYM-NOGC %s
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -r %tlocal.ro | FileCheck --check-prefix=REL %s
+
+# RUN: ld.lld -r --discard-all %t.o -o %tall.ro
+# RUN: llvm-readelf -s %tall.ro | FileCheck --check-prefixes=SYM,SYM-NOGC %s
+# RUN: llvm-readobj -r %tall.ro | FileCheck --check-prefix=REL %s
+
+# SYM:           NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 .Lunused
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    4 .Lunused_gc
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 .Lused
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 unused
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    4 unused_gc
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 used
+# SYM-NEXT:      SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    1 .text
+# SYM-NEXT:      SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    3 text
+# SYM-NOGC-NEXT: SECTION LOCAL  DEFAULT    4 unreferenced
+# SYM-NEXT:      NOTYPE  GLOBAL DEFAULT    1 _start
+
+# REL:      .rela.text {
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 text 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 .Lused 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT:   R_X86_64_PLT32 used 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFC
+# REL-NEXT: }
+
+.globl _start
+_start:
+  call text@plt
+  jmp .Lused@plt
+  call used@plt
+
+.section text,"ax"
+.Lunused:
+.Lused:
+unused:
+used:
+
+.section unreferenced,"ax"
+.Lunused_gc:
+unused_gc:
+  ret