diff --git a/sphinx/registry.py b/sphinx/registry.py
index 523afea9c..03bdb885e 100644
--- a/sphinx/registry.py
+++ b/sphinx/registry.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class SphinxComponentRegistry:
         self.source_parsers = {}        # type: Dict[unicode, Type[Parser]]
 
         #: source inputs; file type -> input class
-        self.source_inputs = {}         # type: Dict[unicode, Input]
+        self.source_inputs = {}         # type: Dict[unicode, Type[Input]]
 
         #: source suffix: suffix -> file type
         self.source_suffix = {}         # type: Dict[unicode, unicode]
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class SphinxComponentRegistry:
     def add_object_type(self, directivename, rolename, indextemplate='',
                         parse_node=None, ref_nodeclass=None, objname='',
                         doc_field_types=[], override=False):
-        # type: (unicode, unicode, unicode, Callable, Type[nodes.Node], unicode, List, bool) -> None  # NOQA
+        # type: (unicode, unicode, unicode, Callable, Type[nodes.TextElement], unicode, List, bool) -> None  # NOQA
         logger.debug('[app] adding object type: %r',
                      (directivename, rolename, indextemplate, parse_node,
                       ref_nodeclass, objname, doc_field_types))
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ class SphinxComponentRegistry:
 
     def add_crossref_type(self, directivename, rolename, indextemplate='',
                           ref_nodeclass=None, objname='', override=False):
-        # type: (unicode, unicode, unicode, nodes.Node, unicode, bool) -> None
+        # type: (unicode, unicode, unicode, Type[nodes.TextElement], unicode, bool) -> None
         logger.debug('[app] adding crossref type: %r',
                      (directivename, rolename, indextemplate, ref_nodeclass, objname))
 
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ class SphinxComponentRegistry:
             raise SphinxError(__('Source parser for %s not registered') % filetype)
 
     def get_source_parsers(self):
-        # type: () -> Dict[unicode, Parser]
+        # type: () -> Dict[unicode, Type[Parser]]
         return self.source_parsers
 
     def create_source_parser(self, app, filename):
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ class SphinxComponentRegistry:
         self.translators[name] = translator
 
     def add_translation_handlers(self, node, **kwargs):
-        # type: (nodes.Node, Any) -> None
+        # type: (Type[nodes.Element], Any) -> None
         logger.debug('[app] adding translation_handlers: %r, %r', node, kwargs)
         for builder_name, handlers in kwargs.items():
             translation_handlers = self.translation_handlers.setdefault(builder_name, {})
diff --git a/sphinx/roles.py b/sphinx/roles.py
index dd89b77d3..454dcb802 100644
--- a/sphinx/roles.py
+++ b/sphinx/roles.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ if False:
     from docutils.parsers.rst.states import Inliner  # NOQA
     from sphinx.application import Sphinx  # NOQA
     from sphinx.environment import BuildEnvironment  # NOQA
+    from sphinx.util.typing import RoleFunction  # NOQA
 
 
 generic_docroles = {
@@ -68,8 +69,8 @@ class XRefRole:
     * Subclassing and overwriting `process_link()` and/or `result_nodes()`.
     """
 
-    nodeclass = addnodes.pending_xref  # type: Type[nodes.Node]
-    innernodeclass = nodes.literal
+    nodeclass = addnodes.pending_xref   # type: Type[nodes.Element]
+    innernodeclass = nodes.literal      # type: Type[nodes.TextElement]
 
     def __init__(self, fix_parens=False, lowercase=False,
                  nodeclass=None, innernodeclass=None, warn_dangling=False):
@@ -395,7 +396,7 @@ specific_docroles = {
     'samp': emph_literal_role,
     'abbr': abbr_role,
     'index': index_role,
-}
+}  # type: Dict[str, RoleFunction]
 
 
 def setup(app):
diff --git a/sphinx/util/nodes.py b/sphinx/util/nodes.py
index ff73819ee..f98c72b37 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/nodes.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/nodes.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from sphinx.util import logging
 
 if False:
     # For type annotation
-    from typing import Any, Callable, Iterable, List, Set, Tuple, Optional  # NOQA
+    from typing import Any, Callable, Iterable, List, Optional, Set, Tuple, Type  # NOQA
     from sphinx.builders import Builder  # NOQA
     from sphinx.utils.tags import Tags  # NOQA
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class NodeMatcher:
     """
 
     def __init__(self, *classes, **attrs):
-        # type: (nodes.Node, Any) -> None
+        # type: (Type[nodes.Node], Any) -> None
         self.classes = classes
         self.attrs = attrs
 
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def repr_domxml(node, length=80):
 
 
 def apply_source_workaround(node):
-    # type: (nodes.Node) -> None
+    # type: (nodes.Element) -> None
     # workaround: nodes.term have wrong rawsource if classifier is specified.
     # The behavior of docutils-0.11, 0.12 is:
     # * when ``term text : classifier1 : classifier2`` is specified,
@@ -247,8 +247,9 @@ META_TYPE_NODES = (
 
 
 def extract_messages(doctree):
-    # type: (nodes.Node) -> Iterable[Tuple[nodes.Node, unicode]]
+    # type: (nodes.Element) -> Iterable[Tuple[nodes.Node, unicode]]
     """Extract translatable messages from a document tree."""
+    node = None  # type: nodes.Element
     for node in doctree.traverse(is_translatable):
         if isinstance(node, addnodes.translatable):
             for msg in node.extract_original_messages():
@@ -291,8 +292,9 @@ def traverse_parent(node, cls=None):
 
 
 def traverse_translatable_index(doctree):
-    # type: (nodes.Node) -> Iterable[Tuple[nodes.Node, List[unicode]]]
+    # type: (nodes.Element) -> Iterable[Tuple[nodes.Element, List[unicode]]]
     """Traverse translatable index node from a document tree."""
+    node = None  # type: nodes.Element
     for node in doctree.traverse(NodeMatcher(addnodes.index, inline=False)):
         if 'raw_entries' in node:
             entries = node['raw_entries']
@@ -322,7 +324,7 @@ def nested_parse_with_titles(state, content, node):
 
 
 def clean_astext(node):
-    # type: (nodes.Node) -> unicode
+    # type: (nodes.Element) -> unicode
     """Like node.astext(), but ignore images."""
     node = node.deepcopy()
     for img in node.traverse(nodes.image):
@@ -495,7 +497,7 @@ def process_only_nodes(document, tags):
 # monkey-patch Element.copy to copy the rawsource and line
 
 def _new_copy(self):
-    # type: (nodes.Node) -> nodes.Node
+    # type: (nodes.Element) -> nodes.Element
     newnode = self.__class__(self.rawsource, **self.attributes)
     if isinstance(self, nodes.Element):
         newnode.source = self.source