diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AnnotationBinder.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AnnotationBinder.java
index 0de3662ad0..5b2016d2f5 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AnnotationBinder.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AnnotationBinder.java
@@ -829,7 +829,11 @@ public final class AnnotationBinder {
 
 		final DiscriminatorColumn discriminatorColumnAnnotation = clazzToProcess.getAnnotation( DiscriminatorColumn.class );
 		if ( !inheritanceState.hasParents() ) {
-			if ( discriminatorColumnAnnotation != null || mappings.useImplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance() ) {
+			// we want to process the discriminator column if either:
+			//		1) There is an explicit DiscriminatorColumn annotation && we are not told to ignore them
+			//		2) There is not an explicit DiscriminatorColumn annotation && we are told to create them implicitly
+			if ( ( discriminatorColumnAnnotation != null && !mappings.ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance() )
+					|| ( discriminatorColumnAnnotation == null && mappings.useImplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance() ) ) {
 				final DiscriminatorType discriminatorType = discriminatorColumnAnnotation != null
 						? discriminatorColumnAnnotation.discriminatorType()
 						: DiscriminatorType.STRING;
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
index 05d833c4c3..79607e9f2f 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
@@ -617,11 +617,28 @@ public interface AvailableSettings {
 	 * discriminator metadata means to follow the legacy behavior *unless* this setting is enabled.  With this setting
 	 * enabled, Hibernate will interpret the absence of discriminator metadata as an indication to use the JPA
 	 * defined defaults for these absent annotations.
+	 * <p/>
+	 * See Hibernate Jira issue HHH-6911 for additional background info.
 	 *
-	 * See Hibernate Jira issue HHH-6911 for additional background info,
+	 * @see #IGNORE_EXPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS
 	 */
 	public static final String IMPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS = "hibernate.discriminator.implicit_for_joined";
 
+	/**
+	 * The legacy behavior of Hibernate is to not use discriminators for joined inheritance (Hibernate does not need
+	 * the discriminator...).  However, some JPA providers do need the discriminator for handling joined inheritance.
+	 * In the interest of portability this capability has been added to Hibernate too.
+	 * <p/>
+	 * Existing applications rely (implicitly or explicitly) on Hibernate ignoring any DiscriminatorColumn declarations
+	 * on joined inheritance hierarchies.  This setting allows these applications to maintain the legacy behavior
+	 * of DiscriminatorColumn annotations being ignored when paired with joined inheritance.
+	 * <p/>
+	 * See Hibernate Jira issue HHH-6911 for additional background info.
+	 *
+	 * @see #IMPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS
+	 */
+	public static final String IGNORE_EXPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS = "hibernate.discriminator.ignore_explicit_for_joined";
+
 	public static final String ENABLE_LAZY_LOAD_NO_TRANS = "hibernate.enable_lazy_load_no_trans";
 
 	public static final String HQL_BULK_ID_STRATEGY = "hibernate.hql.bulk_id_strategy";
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Configuration.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Configuration.java
index e3ce0945e6..29547d052f 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Configuration.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Configuration.java
@@ -3185,6 +3185,19 @@ public class Configuration implements Serializable {
 		}
 
 
+		private Boolean ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance;
+
+		@Override
+		public boolean ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance() {
+			if ( ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance == null ) {
+				final String booleanName = getConfigurationProperties()
+						.getProperty( AvailableSettings.IGNORE_EXPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS );
+				ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance = Boolean.valueOf( booleanName );
+			}
+			return ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance;
+		}
+
+
 		private Boolean useNationalizedCharacterData;
 
 		@Override
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Mappings.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Mappings.java
index f1e337c229..49f5c6eef6 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Mappings.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Mappings.java
@@ -748,16 +748,26 @@ public interface Mappings {
 	public boolean useNewGeneratorMappings();
 
 	/**
-	 * Should we handle discriminators for joined inheritance per legacy Hibernate rules, or
-	 * Should we use the new generator strategy mappings.  This is controlled by the
-	 * {@link AvailableSettings#USE_NEW_ID_GENERATOR_MAPPINGS} setting.
+	 * Should we handle absent DiscriminatorColumn mappings for joined inheritance by implicitly mapping a
+	 * discriminator column?
 	 *
-	 * @return True if the new generators should be used, false otherwise.
+	 * @return {@code true} indicates we should infer DiscriminatorColumn implicitly (aka, map to a discriminator
+	 * column even without a DiscriminatorColumn annotation); {@code false} (the default) indicates that we should not.
 	 *
 	 * @see AvailableSettings#IMPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS
 	 */
 	public boolean useImplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance();
 
+	/**
+	 * Should we ignore explicit DiscriminatorColumn annotations when combined with joined inheritance?
+	 *
+	 * @return {@code true} indicates we should ignore explicit DiscriminatorColumn annotations; {@code false} (the
+	 * default) indicates we should not ignore them
+	 *
+	 * @see AvailableSettings#IGNORE_EXPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS
+	 */
+	public boolean ignoreExplicitDiscriminatorColumnForJoinedInheritance();
+
 	/**
 	 * Should we use nationalized variants of character data by default?  This is controlled by the
 	 * {@link AvailableSettings#USE_NATIONALIZED_CHARACTER_DATA} setting.
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/test/joinedsubclass/JoinedSubclassWithIgnoredExplicitDiscriminatorTest.java b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/test/joinedsubclass/JoinedSubclassWithIgnoredExplicitDiscriminatorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9aa7d08c2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/test/joinedsubclass/JoinedSubclassWithIgnoredExplicitDiscriminatorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+package org.hibernate.test.joinedsubclass;
+
+import javax.persistence.DiscriminatorColumn;
+import javax.persistence.DiscriminatorType;
+import javax.persistence.DiscriminatorValue;
+import javax.persistence.Entity;
+import javax.persistence.Id;
+import javax.persistence.Inheritance;
+import javax.persistence.InheritanceType;
+import javax.persistence.Table;
+
+import org.hibernate.Session;
+import org.hibernate.cfg.AvailableSettings;
+import org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration;
+import org.hibernate.persister.entity.EntityPersister;
+import org.hibernate.persister.entity.JoinedSubclassEntityPersister;
+
+import org.hibernate.testing.TestForIssue;
+import org.hibernate.testing.junit4.BaseCoreFunctionalTestCase;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.hibernate.testing.junit4.ExtraAssertions.assertTyping;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+/**
+ * @author Steve Ebersole
+ */
+@TestForIssue( jiraKey = "HHH-6911" )
+public class JoinedSubclassWithIgnoredExplicitDiscriminatorTest extends BaseCoreFunctionalTestCase {
+	@Entity( name = "Animal" )
+	@Table( name = "animal" )
+	@Inheritance( strategy = InheritanceType.JOINED )
+	@DiscriminatorColumn( name = "type", discriminatorType = DiscriminatorType.STRING )
+	@DiscriminatorValue( value = "???animal???" )
+	public static abstract class Animal {
+		@Id
+		public Integer id;
+
+		protected Animal() {
+		}
+
+		protected Animal(Integer id) {
+			this.id = id;
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Entity( name = "Cat" )
+	@DiscriminatorValue( value = "cat" )
+	public static class Cat extends Animal {
+		public Cat() {
+			super();
+		}
+
+		public Cat(Integer id) {
+			super( id );
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Entity( name = "Dog" )
+	@DiscriminatorValue( value = "dog" )
+	public static class Dog extends Animal {
+		public Dog() {
+			super();
+		}
+
+		public Dog(Integer id) {
+			super( id );
+		}
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected Class<?>[] getAnnotatedClasses() {
+		return new Class[] { Animal.class, Cat.class, Dog.class };
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected void configure(Configuration configuration) {
+		super.configure( configuration );
+		configuration.setProperty( AvailableSettings.IGNORE_EXPLICIT_DISCRIMINATOR_COLUMNS_FOR_JOINED_SUBCLASS, "true" );
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void metadataAssertions() {
+		EntityPersister p = sessionFactory().getEntityPersister( Dog.class.getName() );
+		assertNotNull( p );
+		final JoinedSubclassEntityPersister dogPersister = assertTyping( JoinedSubclassEntityPersister.class, p );
+		assertEquals( "integer", dogPersister.getDiscriminatorType().getName() );
+		assertEquals( "clazz_", dogPersister.getDiscriminatorColumnName() );
+		assertTrue( Integer.class.isInstance( dogPersister.getDiscriminatorValue() ) );
+
+		p = sessionFactory().getEntityPersister( Cat.class.getName() );
+		assertNotNull( p );
+		final JoinedSubclassEntityPersister catPersister = assertTyping( JoinedSubclassEntityPersister.class, p );
+		assertEquals( "integer", catPersister.getDiscriminatorType().getName() );
+		assertEquals( "clazz_", catPersister.getDiscriminatorColumnName() );
+		assertTrue( Integer.class.isInstance( catPersister.getDiscriminatorValue() ) );
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void basicUsageTest() {
+		Session session = openSession();
+		session.beginTransaction();
+		session.save( new Cat( 1 ) );
+		session.save( new Dog( 2 ) );
+		session.getTransaction().commit();
+		session.close();
+
+		session = openSession();
+		session.beginTransaction();
+		session.createQuery( "from Animal" ).list();
+		Cat cat = (Cat) session.get( Cat.class, 1 );
+		assertNotNull( cat );
+		session.delete( cat );
+		Dog dog = (Dog) session.get( Dog.class, 2 );
+		assertNotNull( dog );
+		session.delete( dog );
+		session.getTransaction().commit();
+		session.close();
+	}
+}