diff --git a/docs/change-log.md b/docs/change-log.md
index dee3406b..0ee241d9 100644
--- a/docs/change-log.md
+++ b/docs/change-log.md
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #### Breaking changes
 
+- API: Component vnode `children` are not normalized into vnodes on ingestion; normalization only happens if and when they are ingested by the view ([#2155](https://github.com/MithrilJS/mithril.js/pull/2155/) (thanks to [@magikstm](https://github.com/magikstm) for related optimization [#2064](https://github.com/MithrilJS/mithril.js/pull/2064)))
 - API: `m.redraw()` is always asynchronous ([#1592](https://github.com/MithrilJS/mithril.js/pull/1592))
 - API: `m.mount()` will only render its own root when called, it will not trigger a `redraw()` ([#1592](https://github.com/MithrilJS/mithril.js/pull/1592))
 - API: Assigning to `vnode.state` (as in `vnode.state = ...`) is no longer supported. Instead, an error is thrown if `vnode.state` changes upon the invocation of a lifecycle hook.
diff --git a/render/hyperscript.js b/render/hyperscript.js
index 768dad8f..8573559c 100644
--- a/render/hyperscript.js
+++ b/render/hyperscript.js
@@ -100,12 +100,10 @@ function hyperscript(selector) {
 		while (start < arguments.length) children.push(arguments[start++])
 	}
 
-	var normalized = Vnode.normalizeChildren(children)
-
 	if (typeof selector === "string") {
-		return execSelector(selectorCache[selector] || compileSelector(selector), attrs, normalized)
+		return execSelector(selectorCache[selector] || compileSelector(selector), attrs, Vnode.normalizeChildren(children))
 	} else {
-		return Vnode(selector, attrs.key, attrs, normalized)
+		return Vnode(selector, attrs.key, attrs, children)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/render/tests/index.html b/render/tests/index.html
index eda51921..5c9fc0b7 100644
--- a/render/tests/index.html
+++ b/render/tests/index.html
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 		<script src="test-fragment.js"></script>
 		<script src="test-normalize.js"></script>
 		<script src="test-normalizeChildren.js"></script>
+		<script src="test-normalizeComponentChildren.js"></script>
 		<script src="test-createText.js"></script>
 		<script src="test-createHTML.js"></script>
 		<script src="test-createFragment.js"></script>
diff --git a/render/tests/test-hyperscript.js b/render/tests/test-hyperscript.js
index f7c5f889..f221bef7 100644
--- a/render/tests/test-hyperscript.js
+++ b/render/tests/test-hyperscript.js
@@ -551,19 +551,29 @@ o.spec("hyperscript", function() {
 	o.spec("components", function() {
 		o("works with POJOs", function() {
 			var component = {
-				view: function() {
-					return m("div")
-				}
+				view: function() {}
 			}
 			var vnode = m(component, {id: "a"}, "b")
 
 			o(vnode.tag).equals(component)
 			o(vnode.attrs.id).equals("a")
 			o(vnode.children.length).equals(1)
-			o(vnode.children[0].tag).equals("#")
-			o(vnode.children[0].children).equals("b")
+			o(vnode.children[0]).equals("b")
 		})
-		o("works with functions", function() {
+		o("works with constructibles", function() {
+			var component = o.spy()
+			component.prototype.view = function() {}
+
+			var vnode = m(component, {id: "a"}, "b")
+
+			o(component.callCount).equals(0)
+
+			o(vnode.tag).equals(component)
+			o(vnode.attrs.id).equals("a")
+			o(vnode.children.length).equals(1)
+			o(vnode.children[0]).equals("b")
+		})
+		o("works with closures", function () {
 			var component = o.spy()
 
 			var vnode = m(component, {id: "a"}, "b")
@@ -573,8 +583,7 @@ o.spec("hyperscript", function() {
 			o(vnode.tag).equals(component)
 			o(vnode.attrs.id).equals("a")
 			o(vnode.children.length).equals(1)
-			o(vnode.children[0].tag).equals("#")
-			o(vnode.children[0].children).equals("b")
+			o(vnode.children[0]).equals("b")
 		})
 	})
 })
diff --git a/render/tests/test-normalizeComponentChildren.js b/render/tests/test-normalizeComponentChildren.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..86f75ffe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/render/tests/test-normalizeComponentChildren.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+"use strict"
+
+var o = require("../../ospec/ospec")
+var m = require("../../render/hyperscript")
+var domMock = require("../../test-utils/domMock")
+var vdom = require("../../render/render")
+
+o.spec("component children", function () {
+	var $window = domMock()
+	var root = $window.document.createElement("div")
+	var render = vdom($window).render
+
+	o.spec("component children", function () {
+		var component = {
+			view: function (vnode) {
+				return vnode.children
+			}
+		}
+
+		var vnode = m(component, "a")
+
+		render(root, vnode)
+
+		o("are not normalized on ingestion", function () {
+			o(vnode.children[0]).equals("a")
+		})
+
+		o("are normalized upon view interpolation", function () {
+			o(vnode.instance.children.length).equals(1)
+			o(vnode.instance.children[0].tag).equals("#")
+			o(vnode.instance.children[0].children).equals("a")
+		})
+	})
+})
diff --git a/render/vnode.js b/render/vnode.js
index 13ed393f..5873dca5 100644
--- a/render/vnode.js
+++ b/render/vnode.js
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ Vnode.normalize = function(node) {
 	if (node != null && typeof node !== "object") return Vnode("#", undefined, undefined, node === false ? "" : node, undefined, undefined)
 	return node
 }
-Vnode.normalizeChildren = function normalizeChildren(children) {
-	for (var i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
-		children[i] = Vnode.normalize(children[i])
+Vnode.normalizeChildren = function normalizeChildren(input) {
+	var children = []
+	for (var i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
+		children[i] = Vnode.normalize(input[i])
 	}
 	return children
 }