diff --git a/command/apply.go b/command/apply.go
index 6e2d536c4..fae0a58ed 100644
--- a/command/apply.go
+++ b/command/apply.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/addrs"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/backend"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/repl"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/states"
@@ -178,7 +177,7 @@ func (c *ApplyCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	}
 
 	if !c.Destroy {
-		if outputs := outputsAsString(op.State, addrs.RootModuleInstance, true); outputs != "" {
+		if outputs := outputsAsString(op.State, true); outputs != "" {
 			c.Ui.Output(c.Colorize().Color(outputs))
 		}
 	}
@@ -315,16 +314,12 @@ Options:
 	return strings.TrimSpace(helpText)
 }
 
-func outputsAsString(state *states.State, modPath addrs.ModuleInstance, includeHeader bool) string {
+func outputsAsString(state *states.State, includeHeader bool) string {
 	if state == nil {
 		return ""
 	}
 
-	ms := state.Module(modPath)
-	if ms == nil {
-		return ""
-	}
-
+	ms := state.RootModule()
 	outputs := ms.OutputValues
 	outputBuf := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	if len(outputs) > 0 {
diff --git a/command/output.go b/command/output.go
index f1d446a3f..8cc7426f6 100644
--- a/command/output.go
+++ b/command/output.go
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty/convert"
 	ctyjson "github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty/json"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/addrs"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/repl"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/states"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/tfdiags"
@@ -27,13 +26,12 @@ type OutputCommand struct {
 
 func (c *OutputCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 	args = c.Meta.process(args)
-	var module, statePath string
+	var statePath string
 	var jsonOutput, rawOutput bool
 	cmdFlags := c.Meta.defaultFlagSet("output")
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&jsonOutput, "json", false, "json")
 	cmdFlags.BoolVar(&rawOutput, "raw", false, "raw")
 	cmdFlags.StringVar(&statePath, "state", "", "path")
-	cmdFlags.StringVar(&module, "module", "", "module")
 	cmdFlags.Usage = func() { c.Ui.Error(c.Help()) }
 	if err := cmdFlags.Parse(args); err != nil {
 		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf("Error parsing command-line flags: %s\n", err.Error()))
@@ -101,35 +99,12 @@ func (c *OutputCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		return 1
 	}
 
-	moduleAddr := addrs.RootModuleInstance
-	if module != "" {
-		// This option was supported prior to 0.12.0, but no longer supported
-		// because we only persist the root module outputs in state.
-		// (We could perhaps re-introduce this by doing an eval walk here to
-		// repopulate them, similar to how "terraform console" does it, but
-		// that requires more thought since it would imply this command
-		// supporting remote operations, which is a big change.)
-		diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
-			tfdiags.Error,
-			"Unsupported option",
-			"The -module option is no longer supported since Terraform 0.12, because now only root outputs are persisted in the state.",
-		))
-		c.showDiagnostics(diags)
-		return 1
-	}
-
 	state := stateStore.State()
 	if state == nil {
 		state = states.NewState()
 	}
 
-	mod := state.Module(moduleAddr)
-	if mod == nil {
-		c.Ui.Error(fmt.Sprintf(
-			"The module %s could not be found. There is nothing to output.",
-			module))
-		return 1
-	}
+	mod := state.RootModule()
 
 	if !jsonOutput && (state.Empty() || len(mod.OutputValues) == 0) {
 		diags = diags.Append(tfdiags.Sourceless(
@@ -190,7 +165,7 @@ func (c *OutputCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 			c.Ui.Output(string(jsonOutputs))
 			return 0
 		} else {
-			c.Ui.Output(outputsAsString(state, moduleAddr, false))
+			c.Ui.Output(outputsAsString(state, false))
 			return 0
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/command/output_test.go b/command/output_test.go
index 8b2edc3a6..0faca69fd 100644
--- a/command/output_test.go
+++ b/command/output_test.go
@@ -268,35 +268,6 @@ func TestOutput_jsonEmptyOutputs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestMissingModuleOutput(t *testing.T) {
-	originalState := states.BuildState(func(s *states.SyncState) {
-		s.SetOutputValue(
-			addrs.OutputValue{Name: "foo"}.Absolute(addrs.RootModuleInstance),
-			cty.StringVal("bar"),
-			false,
-		)
-	})
-	statePath := testStateFile(t, originalState)
-
-	ui := new(cli.MockUi)
-	c := &OutputCommand{
-		Meta: Meta{
-			testingOverrides: metaOverridesForProvider(testProvider()),
-			Ui:               ui,
-		},
-	}
-
-	args := []string{
-		"-state", statePath,
-		"-module", "not_existing_module",
-		"blah",
-	}
-
-	if code := c.Run(args); code != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("bad: \n%s", ui.ErrorWriter.String())
-	}
-}
-
 func TestOutput_badVar(t *testing.T) {
 	originalState := states.BuildState(func(s *states.SyncState) {
 		s.SetOutputValue(
diff --git a/command/refresh.go b/command/refresh.go
index 36c40633f..a393f0c03 100644
--- a/command/refresh.go
+++ b/command/refresh.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/addrs"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/backend"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/tfdiags"
 )
@@ -96,7 +95,7 @@ func (c *RefreshCommand) Run(args []string) int {
 		return op.Result.ExitStatus()
 	}
 
-	if outputs := outputsAsString(op.State, addrs.RootModuleInstance, true); outputs != "" {
+	if outputs := outputsAsString(op.State, true); outputs != "" {
 		c.Ui.Output(c.Colorize().Color(outputs))
 	}