diff --git a/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/FileDescriptor.cs b/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/FileDescriptor.cs
index 9124beee04c9..be94cb100e3b 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/FileDescriptor.cs
+++ b/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/FileDescriptor.cs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 // OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 #endregion
 
+using Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes;
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
@@ -43,6 +44,16 @@ namespace Google.Protobuf.Reflection
     /// </summary>
     public sealed class FileDescriptor : IDescriptor
     {
+        // Prevent linker failures when using IL2CPP with the well-known types.
+        static FileDescriptor()
+        {
+            ForceReflectionInitialization<Syntax>();
+            ForceReflectionInitialization<NullValue>();
+            ForceReflectionInitialization<Field.Types.Cardinality>();
+            ForceReflectionInitialization<Field.Types.Kind>();
+            ForceReflectionInitialization<Value.KindOneofCase>();
+        }
+
         private FileDescriptor(ByteString descriptorData, FileDescriptorProto proto, FileDescriptor[] dependencies, DescriptorPool pool, bool allowUnknownDependencies, GeneratedClrTypeInfo generatedCodeInfo)
         {
             SerializedData = descriptorData;
@@ -334,5 +345,18 @@ public override string ToString()
         /// The (possibly empty) set of custom options for this file.
         /// </summary>
         public CustomOptions CustomOptions => Proto.Options?.CustomOptions ?? CustomOptions.Empty;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Performs initialization for the given generic type argument.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// This method is present for the sake of AOT compilers. It allows code (whether handwritten or generated)
+        /// to make calls into the reflection machinery of this library to express an intention to use that type
+        /// reflectively (e.g. for JSON parsing and formatting). The call itself does almost nothing, but AOT compilers
+        /// attempting to determine which generic type arguments need to be handled will spot the code path and act
+        /// accordingly.
+        /// </remarks>
+        /// <typeparam name="T">The type to force initialization for.</typeparam>
+        public static void ForceReflectionInitialization<T>() => ReflectionUtil.ForceInitialize<T>();
     }
 }
diff --git a/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/ReflectionUtil.cs b/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/ReflectionUtil.cs
index 80d5c774f232..18a70b80b896 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/ReflectionUtil.cs
+++ b/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/Reflection/ReflectionUtil.cs
@@ -50,6 +50,29 @@ namespace Google.Protobuf.Reflection
     /// </summary>
     internal static class ReflectionUtil
     {
+        static ReflectionUtil()
+        {
+            ForceInitialize<string>(); // Handles all reference types
+            ForceInitialize<int>();
+            ForceInitialize<long>();
+            ForceInitialize<uint>();
+            ForceInitialize<ulong>();
+            ForceInitialize<float>();
+            ForceInitialize<double>();
+            ForceInitialize<bool>();
+            ForceInitialize<int?>();
+            ForceInitialize<long?>();
+            ForceInitialize<uint?>();
+            ForceInitialize<ulong?>();
+            ForceInitialize<float?>();
+            ForceInitialize<double?>();
+            ForceInitialize<bool?>();
+            ForceInitialize<SampleEnum>();
+            SampleEnumMethod();
+        }
+
+        internal static void ForceInitialize<T>() => new ReflectionHelper<IMessage, T>();
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Empty Type[] used when calling GetProperty to force property instead of indexer fetching.
         /// </summary>
@@ -163,7 +186,6 @@ private static bool CheckCanConvertEnumFuncToInt32Func()
         {
             try
             {
-                PreventLinkerFailures();
                 // Try to do the conversion using reflection, so we can see whether it's supported.
                 MethodInfo method = typeof(ReflectionUtil).GetMethod(nameof(SampleEnumMethod));
                 // If this passes, we're in a reasonable runtime.
@@ -176,23 +198,6 @@ private static bool CheckCanConvertEnumFuncToInt32Func()
             }
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// This method is effectively pointless, but only called once. It's present (and called)
-        /// to avoid the Unity linker from removing code that's only called via reflection.
-        /// </summary>
-        private static void PreventLinkerFailures()
-        {
-            // Exercise the method directly. This should avoid any pro-active linkers from stripping
-            // the method out.
-            SampleEnum x = SampleEnumMethod();
-            if (x != SampleEnum.X)
-            {
-                throw new InvalidOperationException("Failure in reflection utilities");
-            }
-            // Make sure the ReflectionHelper parameterless constructor isn't removed...
-            var helper = new ReflectionHelper<int, int>();
-        }
-
         public enum SampleEnum
         {
             X