diff --git a/commands/hugo.go b/commands/hugo.go
index 9e9518493..0fb76c7cd 100644
--- a/commands/hugo.go
+++ b/commands/hugo.go
@@ -121,6 +121,8 @@ func InitializeConfig() {
 	viper.SetDefault("PygmentsUseClasses", false)
 	viper.SetDefault("DisableLiveReload", false)
 	viper.SetDefault("PluralizeListTitles", true)
+	viper.SetDefault("FootnoteAnchorPrefix", "")
+	viper.SetDefault("FootnoteReturnLinkContents", "")
 
 	if hugoCmdV.PersistentFlags().Lookup("buildDrafts").Changed {
 		viper.Set("BuildDrafts", Draft)
diff --git a/docs/content/overview/configuration.md b/docs/content/overview/configuration.md
index d82adb903..c612b244e 100644
--- a/docs/content/overview/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/content/overview/configuration.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ The following is an example of a toml config file with some of the default value
     builddrafts = false
     baseurl = "http://yoursite.example.com/"
     canonifyurls = true
+
     [indexes]
        category = "categories"
        tag = "tags"
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ Here is a yaml configuration file which sets a few more options
     ---
     baseurl: "http://yoursite.example.com/"
     title: "Yoyodyne Widget Blogging"
+    footnotereturnlinkcontents: "↩"
     permalinks:
       post: /:year/:month/:title/
     params:
diff --git a/hugolib/page.go b/hugolib/page.go
index 0a9648e5e..4f2c6c483 100644
--- a/hugolib/page.go
+++ b/hugolib/page.go
@@ -671,49 +671,42 @@ func (page *Page) Convert() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func markdownRender(content []byte) []byte {
+func getHtmlRenderer(withTOC bool) blackfriday.Renderer {
+	renderParameters := blackfriday.HtmlRendererParameters{
+		FootnoteAnchorPrefix:       viper.GetString("FootnoteAnchorPrefix"),
+		FootnoteReturnLinkContents: viper.GetString("FootnoteReturnLinkContents"),
+	}
+
 	htmlFlags := 0
 	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_XHTML
 	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_SMARTYPANTS
 	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_FRACTIONS
 	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_LATEX_DASHES
 	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_FOOTNOTE_RETURN_LINKS
-	renderer := blackfriday.HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags, "", "")
 
-	extensions := 0
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_NO_INTRA_EMPHASIS
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_TABLES
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_AUTOLINK
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_STRIKETHROUGH
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_SPACE_HEADERS
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_FOOTNOTES
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_HEADER_IDS
+	if withTOC {
+		htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_TOC
+	}
 
-	return blackfriday.Markdown(content, renderer, extensions)
+	return blackfriday.HtmlRendererWithParameters(htmlFlags, "", "", renderParameters)
+}
+
+func getMarkdownExtensions() int {
+	return 0 | blackfriday.EXTENSION_NO_INTRA_EMPHASIS |
+		blackfriday.EXTENSION_TABLES | blackfriday.EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE |
+		blackfriday.EXTENSION_AUTOLINK | blackfriday.EXTENSION_STRIKETHROUGH |
+		blackfriday.EXTENSION_SPACE_HEADERS | blackfriday.EXTENSION_FOOTNOTES |
+		blackfriday.EXTENSION_HEADER_IDS
+}
+
+func markdownRender(content []byte) []byte {
+	return blackfriday.Markdown(content, getHtmlRenderer(false),
+		getMarkdownExtensions())
 }
 
 func markdownRenderWithTOC(content []byte) []byte {
-	htmlFlags := 0
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_TOC
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_XHTML
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_SMARTYPANTS
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_FRACTIONS
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_LATEX_DASHES
-	htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_FOOTNOTE_RETURN_LINKS
-	renderer := blackfriday.HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags, "", "")
-
-	extensions := 0
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_NO_INTRA_EMPHASIS
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_TABLES
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_AUTOLINK
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_STRIKETHROUGH
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_SPACE_HEADERS
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_FOOTNOTES
-	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_HEADER_IDS
-
-	return blackfriday.Markdown(content, renderer, extensions)
+	return blackfriday.Markdown(content, getHtmlRenderer(true),
+		getMarkdownExtensions())
 }
 
 func extractTOC(content []byte) (newcontent []byte, toc []byte) {
@@ -802,7 +795,7 @@ func sliceToLower(s []string) []string {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	l  := make([]string, len(s))
+	l := make([]string, len(s))
 	for i, v := range s {
 		l[i] = strings.ToLower(v)
 	}