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And so it came to pass...

... That we have a trope page for the Book of Mormon, a book of scripture used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its splinter groups alongside The Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants.

The Book of Mormon is the main piece of holy/'God-given' writ that distinguishes these churches from Catholicism and the various Protestant sects, and the unofficial name of the religion, Mormonism, derives its name from the book. The "Mormons" regard the book as divine scripture equal to the Bible in importance, and intended to be read alongside the Bible (one being the record of the descendants of Judah, the other a record of descendants of Joseph).^note In the 1980s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints added the subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" to help clarify that the primary subject of the book is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Context

The book claims to be an accumulation of the writings of a people descended from Israelites (specifically, Joseph) who immigrated from Jerusalem to the Americas around 600 BC, settling there and spreading into two sizeable nations. A thousand years later, the eponymous Mormon and his son Moroni, the last prophet/scholars of their people, edited and compiled the majority of the book from numerous existing texts, inscribing the final record on sheets of gold-colored metal or 'Golden Plates' in a script based on Egyptian Hieroglyphs.^note Moroni buried the plates around AD 420 with the promise from God that they would one day be brought forth again.

Joseph Smith, a young farmer in upstate New York, claimed that in 1820, Moroni appeared to him as an Angel and led him to where the plates were buried. Joseph Smith, with the aid of an artifact also delivered with the plates called the "Urim and Thummim," was blessed by God with the power to translate the text into English and dictated the contents to a scribe. The Book of Mormon was published in 1830 and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed shortly thereafter under Joseph Smith's leadership. The claim of divine aid in bringing forth the book has made it a controversial subject ever since.

The book's actual contents don't get discussed much outside of Mormon circles — most non-Mormons find its origin story so outlandish that they dismiss the book as an obvious fabrication without the need to read its text.

There have been some changes to the text since the first edition. The earliest and most extensive changes were made by Smith himself in later editions.^note Modern editions after Joseph Smith's death have made minor changes in the text itself but have been mostly restricted to chapter headings, footnotes, and other study helps. Critics of the book have claimed that major revisions have been made to make the text more appealing to modern audiences.

Content

In structure, the Book of Mormon resembles the 'historical books' of The Bible, being divided into a number of books which largely form a narrative, which is punctuated by accounts of sermons and editorial commentary. It begins with a few families in Jerusalem, follows their journey across the ocean to a new "promised land" in the Americas, and then tells the history of the nations founded by their descendants, with emphasis on the preaching of the prophets, the spiritual condition of the cultures, and various events like several major wars.

Also included is the visit of Jesus Christ, who appears to the people after his resurrection, teaches them, and founds his church and a Utopia. Unfortunately, this doesn't last; after several centuries, the people become wicked and divided again, and eventually a whole nation is destroyed. At this point, the last few prophets (Mormon and Moroni, as already discussed) add their last comments and bury the book.

The narrative switches between firsthand transcribed accounts of the events and summations as done by Mormon to get to the heart of the story. Books are mostly named after their primary historical author, but due to the vast number of individuals involved and the need to simplify, this doesn't always hold true. As such the Book of Omni, only a few pages long, is actually minor contributions from a half dozen writers over several generations, and Alma, the namesake of the longest book, is absent through the last third (it continues until all of Alma's sons have died, a pattern continued in the book of Helaman).

There are several dominant and recurring themes in the book. Some are theological, like the divinity of Christ, or that those blessed by God can sin and lose those blessings, while those who sin can repent and be blessed. Other themes involve the idea of liberty and choice, secret societies, and perhaps most prominently individual and national pride, which leads to the destruction of multiple nations.

This page is about the tropes used in the The Book of Mormon itself, not about determining its authenticity or spiritual value. This is simply tropes that were recognized and whether or not these existed at the time of translation/writing is not any Troper's problem.

For more information on the church itself and other historical details see Useful Notes: Mormonism.

Should not be mistaken with the musical The Book of Mormon, which is based not on the book but on modern-day missionaries.

Note: Since the copyright on the Book of Mormon text is long expired, and the narrative freely gives away the Downer Ending far in advance (multiple times, including in the very first book), expect unmarked spoilers below.

"And it came to pass that this page would list the examples thus:"

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A - B

Abdicate the Throne:
- Alma sees the people becoming increasingly wicked, but since the monarchy has been ended and he's officially just a "chief judge" or governor, there's limits on what he can do about it. So he hands over the judgement seat to a man he trusts, Nephihah, and throws himself into his other job of high priest, travelling around the land to cry repentance.
- Alma's great-grandson Nephi later does something similar. The judgement seat has been returned to his line, but the people are straying, so he gives the job to Cezoram, takes his brother Lehi, and sets out to preach the gospel for the rest of his life.
Abduction Is Love: The wicked priests of King Noah were hiding in the wilderness, having abandoned their people and their families as the Lamanites conquered their land, when they stumbled across a group of daughters of the Lamanites dancing in the woods. They captured these daughters and made them their wives. Presumably, love followed because the next we hear of these daughters is their (and their children) pleading with an army of Lamanites not to kill their husbands.
Academia Elitism: The third book of Nephi mentions how a previously united society began to become stratified, with accompanying "pride and boastings", according to the people's level of education — which basically correlated to personal wealth.
Accidentally Beneficial Attack: Zemnarihah arranges for his army to besiege the Nephite fortifications and cut them off from contact with the outside. However, the fortress in question was specifically designed and supplied to hold out for seven years. Not only are the robber armies hindered from finding any food for themselves, because they need to stay in position around the fortress, but also they're sitting ducks for the Nephites to sortie against them and wipe out thousands. Eventually the robbers give up and retreat — which also goes badly for them, allowing the Nephites to pursue and rout them.
Actual Pacifist: The Lamanites had spent centuries attacking and murdering the Nephites, and were described as "delighting in bloodshed." So when several Lamanite cities were converted to Christianity, as part of their repentance they buried their weapons, preferring to let themselves be killed rather than risk losing their forgiveness by killing an enemy even in self-defense. These "people of Ammon" were so firm in this conviction that the Nephites had to give them land to live on in the Nephite territory so that the Nephites could protect them from the non-converted Lamanites, who kept killing them without resistance because of their faith.
Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God.
Adaptation Distillation:
- After Nephi makes a record of his life on metal plates, he then makes a second set of plates and writes a shorter account, leaving out a lot of history and just focusing on God's involvement. He passes both sets down to his descendants and has them follow the same pattern, to the point where some of them just announce their names but have nothing further to add to the small plates, because there wasn't any new preaching or prophesying that wasn't already covered.
- Several times, Mormon states that he can't include even "a hundredth part" of the historical records he has access to.
Aerith and Bob: The Jaredites are said to have domesticated horses, donkeys, elephants, cureloms, and cumoms. The only thing said about either cureloms or cumoms is that they were as useful as the elephants.
Afterlife Antechamber: The prophet Alma explains that the spirit goes to a sort of antechamber when it separates from the body at death. It remains there for some time until it is ready to be brought before God for judgment, and then is reunited with the body in a resurrection before being assigned to a final afterlife corresponding to the righteousness of the individual whilst alive.
All There in the Manual: The Book of Mormon has a pronunciation guide, and the "Quad" (The Bible, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price) has a Bible dictionary, maps, the Joseph Smith Translation, footnotes and references to similar verses and chapters. Some non-LDS scholars use the footnotes and index published by the LDS church because of their completeness and quality. Of note is that the pronunciation guide was only developed in the 1970s, as beforehand different regions had different ways of reading the many different names. This isn't considered to be their definitive original Nephite pronunciation, only a way to unify the way the church pronounces it.
Ambulance Chaser: The city of Ammonihah is stated to contain many lawyers who deliberately stir up social unrest and disturbance in order to drum up business. This leads to them opposing Alma and Amulek's preaching on general principles, hoping to start a fight that will mean more business — even before Amulek starts calling them out and warning that their behavior is putting the city on a path to destruction, after which It's Personal.
Amoral Attorney: Zeezrom is described as a wealthy lawyer who is "an expert in the devices of the devil," and whose first appearance has him attempt to bribe two prophets with a large sum of money^note. In addition, his practice is said to be exploitative and overpriced. As tends to happen, he undergoes a Heel–Faith Turn, after which he abandons the practice of law and becomes a missionary.
Anachronic Order: The early books proceed in chronological order, with the first two being written by Nephi toward the end of his life and the rest added on by various keepers as the record was handed down. Words of Mormon then briefly summarizes the situation in Mormon's time, hundreds of years in the future, before the Book of Mosiah returns to roughly 150 B.C. and recounts the stories of three different cultures that existed around that time and merge together at the end. Finally, the Book of Ether jumps all the way back to the time of the Tower of Babel and follows a civilization that crossed the sea long before the Nephites, but wiped itself out early in the Nephites' history.^note
Anachronism Stew: There are animals and plants mentioned in the book for which there is little, if any, archaeological evidence that they were present in the Americas before contact with Europeans. Critics of the book see these as obvious errors on Joseph Smith's part. Believers have various theories to account for them, including possible name-loaning (calling a tapir or deer a horse), or just believe the evidence hasn't been found yet.^note
Ancestral Weapon: Laban wasn't actually an ancestor of Lehi's family, he was a cousin. However, after killing him, Nephi claimed his (very high quality) sword, and later used it as the template for manufacturing other swords for his people's defence. Centuries later, it's mentioned that the original sword has been passed down the line of kings descended from Nephi, and they wield it when personally taking the field.
Ancient Conspiracy: The Gadianton Robbers, whose organization was based on what the Book of Mormon calls "Secret Combinations" that have existed a lot longer than the name of the society. This led to the downfall of two great civilizations, and the record-keepers preach against it.
And Now You Must Marry Me:
- After king Noah is dethroned and burned, his corrupt priests run away lest the mob seize them next — leaving their families behind. Not to worry, though; they can just kidnap a bunch of girls from the Lamanites, and since they're all priests, sorting out the remarriages should be easy! Too bad about the Lamanite armies that come marching along looking for revenge... although when the priests are actually caught, their new wives plead for their lives, so perhaps it worked out in the end?
- Also King Amalickiah, after getting the old king murdered by one of his servants, marries the queen so he can take the throne. It's not entirely clear whether she knew the truth of her late husband's end, but since Amalickiah controlled the army and had just assassinated the last person to get in his way...
Angst: Some authors take some time to vent about their existence.
- Nephi admits to feeling "wretched" because he isn't perfect, that his "heart groaneth because of [his] sins". The chapter ends more optimistically, though, with his conclusion being that he'll be okay by relying on God.
- Alma wishes he had the power of an angel so that he could preach repentance to the whole world, feeling dissatisfied with the limited impact he's having as a mere mortal. Like Nephi, though, he admits that he needs to trust that God will work things out.
Angst Coma: Alma the Younger's Heel–Face Turn. After getting up to a lot of anti-church mischief, he is rebuked by an angel, goes into a "deep sleep" and has visions of God. When he wakes up days later, he has had a change of heart. He later explains to his son that he spent that time being tormented by the realisation that his actions had led people away from God and put their souls at risk.
Antagonistic Offspring: Akish imprisons and starves one of his sons out of jealousy, to which another son responds by joining forces with the king-in-exile whose throne Akish usurped, and then Akish's remaining ambitious sons raise an army to take the throne from him, starting a Civil War that nearly wipes the nation out.
Antichrist: Not in the traditional sense, but this trope is name-dropped a few times. No single person is depicted as the Antichrist; instead, an Anti-Christ is someone who actively opposes the Church and tries to lead others into sin with them. In the Book of Mormon, Korihor is explicitly identified as an Anti-Christ, while his predecessors Sherem and Nehor both have a similar modus operandi of using flattering words and appealing-sounding lies to gather followers and lead large numbers of people away from the true Church. In Nehor's case especially, it's noted that these false ideas stick around long after the originator has died, and many Nephite dissidents believe the teachings of Anti-Christs.
Anti-Climax: Nephi sees a vision of the future, first of his descendants, then the "many nations and kingdoms" of the Gentiles, then the last days, when both the church of God and the church of the devil will fill the earth and wars will break out everywhere — at which point he's instructed not to write the rest of his vision, because that is the apostle John's job.
Antiquated Linguistics: The book's language resembles the Jacobean English found in the King James Bible, which was written almost 200 years prior.
Apocalypse How:
- Class 0: At the time of Jesus' death, there is a tremendous storm that wipes out a long list of cities with earthquakes, fires, tornados, flooding, and seismic upheavals that result in mountains where cities used to be, to the point where "the whole face of the land was changed." When the dust settles, the voice of Jesus informs the survivors that he has delivered punishment to the wicked, and invites them, the more righteous part of the people, to repent and do better. He then visits in person — and the whole land is at peace for centuries afterward.
- Societal Collapse - Regional: The Jaredites wipe each other out in a Civil War, literally down to the last man. It's unclear exactly how many people were involved, but just the lead-up to the climactic final battle included over two million casualties. The Nephites later find their territory and call it Desolation, because it's covered in bones.
Arc Words: "And it came to pass..." to the point where it appears 1,300-1,400 times throughout the Book, ie averaging almost three times per page. Mark Twain famously quipped that if the phrase wasn't in it, the Book of Mormon would be reduced to a pamphlet.
Armor Is Useless: Inverted. Several times during the wars of Captain Moroni's time it's mentioned that the Nephites tend to wear some sort of armor while the Lamanites usually don't, and this is usually mentioned right behind divine assistance as being instrumental in their victories — to the point where the defeated Lamanites insist that it was armour, not Divine Intervention, that let the Nephites win.
Armor-Piercing Attack: At the first battle where the Nephites wear full-body armour, it skews the number of casualties on each side in their favour, until the Lamanites are intimidated and start retreating. However, once cornered, the Lamanites get worked up into a frenzy where they start hitting hard enough to pierce chest-plates and split helmets in two.
Arranged Marriage: At God's direction, Lehi sends his sons back to Jerusalem to bring Ishmael's family along (including at least five daughters). Technically, the boys and girls might still have had a choice of exactly how they paired off, but it doesn't seem to have taken them long; after returning to Lehi, all four sons plus Zoram were married before breaking camp.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Liahona and the Urim and Thummim are holy relics that God gave to his prophets to aid in their tasks. The Golden Plates were made by man but contain all of God's revelations to His people. The Sword of Laban, on the other hand, was once used to kill a man who was blackout drunk. Doing so was necessary to obtain the Brass Plates, the precursor to the Golden Plates, but the preservation of the Sword of Laban as a holy relic along with the Liahona, Urim and Thummim, and Golden Plates is never explained. The only other mentioned usage of the sword is that Nephi used it as a template for making more swords to arm his people after parting ways with his brothers.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Several prophets are believed to have been taken up by God in some fashion.
- Alma the Younger, long after repenting of his earlier actions against the church.
- Same with Nephi the son of Helaman. He disappears right before the sign of Jesus's birth.
- The Three Nephites definitely count too. In their case, it's explicit that their bodies were altered to never age or weaken, and that they would have power like angels.
Asshole Victim: Many men, Korihor, King Noah, and the entire city of Ammonihah are this. Also borders Too Dumb to Live.
The Atoner:
- Alma the Younger most famously, but the sons of Mosiah (his companions) also. They are initially mentioned in the narrative as unbelievers who go around disrupting the church and leading people away, until they are rebuked by an angel and undergo a group Heel–Face Turn — after which they dedicate their lives to admitting their mistakes, repairing the damage they wrought, and preaching repentance, even going on a long and dangerous mission to preach to the hostile Lamanites.
- Converted Lamanites often felt this way.
  - The people of Ammon, acutely aware of their history of violence, swear that they will never shed blood again, being willing to die rather than continue to hurt anyone else.
  - Later groups of converted Lamanites actually move en masse out of lands they'd conquered so the Nephites can return.
Atop a Mountain of Corpses: The Lamanites are completely unprepared for the Nephites to introduce city walls surrounded by trenches. But since the walls are made of the dirt dug out of the trench, they attempt (after failing to take the gate) to simply dig them down. This backfires due to the Nephites having towers overlooking the walls, letting them massacre the Lamanites with stones and arrows, until the trench starts to fill up, not with dirt, but with the Lamanite casualties.
Author Filibuster: While Mormon typically stays on-topic in his abridgment, there are a couple of spots where he puts in his own thoughts. The last book, written by Moroni, is essentially one long example of this trope. In his defense, the abridgment of the history was done, he had seen his entire country slaughtered around him and spent the last twenty years of his life on the run, so he had a lot to get off his chest.
Avenging the Villain: King Ammoron, brother and successor to Amalickiah, seeks to avenge his death. Likewise Shiz, although in that case whether any side can be termed good is hard to tell.
Bad Boss: Morianton is about to rebel and secede from the Nephites over a land dispute (where apparently he was in the wrong), but he beats up one of his servants in a fit of temper, and she runs away and exposes his plans.
Badass Creed: Captain Moroni's oath that he emblazoned on his flag; "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children."
Badass Normal: A number of people carry out righteous smiting aided by the power of God. Teancum, the Nephite special forces captain, doesn't seem to have any divine assistance, but still manages to infiltrate the enemy camp and assassinate the enemy leader. Twice. Sadly, he doesn't get out the second time.
Badass Pacifist: The entire people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi make an oath to never use weapons or fight their enemies (due largely to having a very bloody past before conversion), and every man, woman and child keeps it while an army bears down on them. Their lack of resistance is so complete that most of a Lamanite army attacking them actually converts after seeing they won't fight back.
Badass Preacher: Prophets often had other professions. Sometimes these professions were in the army.
- Alma the Younger fights Amlici in personal combat during his rebellion and defeats him.
- Ammon the son of Mosiah goes as a missionary into Lamanite lands and serves their king as a shepherd. He kills six robbers with a sling and then uses his sword to cut the arms off any of the robbers that try to kill him "and they were not few."
- Mormon, the primary editor of the book and a prophet, is also chosen as the supreme leader of the Nephite armies at the age of sixteen.
Baddie Flattery: Giddianhi's letter to the Nephite governor is full of praise for how firmly the Nephites have stood against his armies, and expresses concern at the prospect of wiping the Nephites out if they don't surrender. It's never clear whether he was genuine, or just sugar-coating his demand that the Nephites give him their land and their fealty on a platter, but his genocidal war suggests the latter.
The Bad Guys Are Cops: During the book of Helaman, the government is taken over by the Gadianton robbers (organized crime), resulting in people being condemned for righteousness or acquitted in exchange for bribes. Nephi confronts a group of judges over a murder case where the victim, the perpetrator, and the judges are all part of the secret society, and only the fear of public outcry stops the judges from falsely convicting Nephi of the crime.
Balance Between Good and Evil: Lehi tells his son Jacob that there has to be opposition in all things, because righteousness can't exist without the possibility of wickedness, neither can there be a good choice without a bad one existing. Not that good can't win in the end, but the possibility of choosing evil has to be on the table; otherwise creating humans would have been a pointless waste of time, which would be incompatible with a perfectly wise and powerful God.
Batman Gambit:
- Moroni uses one to rescue Nephite prisoners of war from the city of Gid: he sends a small group of converted Lamanites, who tell the guards that they've escaped from the Nephites, bringing plenty of alcohol with them. The guards wake up with hangovers to find that they're surrounded by Nephite armies and all their prisoners are armed.
- This was a favorite tactic of Nephite armies during the latter war chapters in Alma: March past an occupied city with a small army, draw the enemy out into what they think is an easy victory, have the larger army re-take the city while it's virtually unguarded. In fairness, the Lamanites did eventually catch on to this tactic, but sometimes they couldn't afford to just ignore it lest the Nephites lay siege to the city and cut off their supplies.
- Jacob tells his people that the reason Jesus will come to Earth among the Jews is because they're the only nation stubborn and prideful enough to kill him and his death is a necessary sacrifice.
Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Jacob attests that the Jews rejected God's plain teachings, even killing the prophets who delivered them, and wanted to be given things they couldn't understand — and so God gave them just that, many things they couldn't understand, but it hasn't gone well for them, and will result in them even blindly rejecting Jesus.
- Demanding a sign from God tends to work out very badly for the one making the demand.
  - Sherem is struck down and lives just long enough to recant all his false teachings before dying.
  - The chief judge of Ammonihah and his cronies get the sign they asked for, with Alma and Amulek Breaking the Bonds, but it's immediately followed by another sign in the form of an earthquake that kills them all.
  - Korihor is rendered permanently mute. In the last instance, the chief judge even asks if Korihor really thought God would hurt someone else when he was the one arrogantly demanding a sign.
Beyond Redemption: Mormon realizes that there's no more hope for the Nephites, when they have descended into misery and mourning and lamentations and yet still do not turn back to God. Technically they are granted one more chance to repent after that, but they ignore it, at which point God speaks to Mormon, confirming that they are past all their chances and will be removed from the face of the earth.
And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives. And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land.
Blood Knight: The Lamanites were this after Nephi left his brothers. At the end of the book nearly the entire Nephite population seem to be this. The same with the Jaredites at the end of the book of Ether.
Bold Explorer:
- Hagoth, who is described as "exceedingly curious" and who launches a number of large ships into the Pacific Ocean. Their original aim was to carry people and supplies to the land northward, and in some cases they succeed, but several of them disappear.^note
- Nephi also sees Christopher Columbus in a vision, and asserts that God had a hand in his discovery of the Americas.
Book Burning: Downplayed. The people of Ammonihah burn all the scriptures they can find, yes, but they also burn the owners of those scriptures, which the text is much more concerned about.
Breaking the Bonds: Several times with divine help.
- After Nephi is tied up by his brothers, he prays for the strength to break free, and promptly receives it.
- Alma and Amulek, in prison, are challenged to free themselves from their bonds, and then the chief judge of the city will believe their prediction of the city being destroyed. They do. And then an earthquake brings down the building, starting the destruction with him and all his associates.
- The Three Nephites to whom Jesus granted agelessness. Apparently they were immune not just to death, but to every earthly power; prisons were torn apart and even in deep pits they could "smite the earth with the word of God" and be freed.
Breather Episode: After about a century of nearly nonstop warfare between the Nephites and Lamanites, culminating in natural disasters that wipe out multiple cities, Jesus visits briefly and everyone gets along fine for the next 200 years or so.
Bring Help Back: King Limhi covertly sends 43 men on an expedition to find their ancestral home, Zarahemla, and appeal to the Nephites still living there to come and rescue Limhi's people from slavery to the Lamanites. Unfortunately, it's been so long since Limhi's ancestors left Zarahemla that they don't know the way, and instead end up wandering through the ruined lands where the Jaredites destroyed themselves, thinking that this must be what's left of Zarahemla, and bring back samples of the armour and rusted swords that they found there. Despite their failure, Zarahemla actually does send an expedition to them shortly afterward, essentially as a wellness check.
Bring It: After setting up on a defensible hill, Coriantumr blows a trumpet to invite Shiz to come to battle. Repeatedly. The first two times, Coriantumr defeats him and drives his armies into retreat, while the third battle is inconclusive, with both sides taking so many casualties that they back off.
Bringing Back Proof:
- When king Limhi sends a group of men to search for the land of Zarahemla, they instead find a land that they call Desolation, because it's no longer inhabited but covered in bones. To prove that they aren't just making it up, they bring back some of the items that they find there, including metal breastplates and engravings in an unknown language.
- Ammon's single-handed defeat of a band of robbers is astonishing to his companions, and they expect the king to find it equally unbelievable — so they gather up the arms that Ammon cut off his enemies, and bring them back as proof of their story.
Bullet Dodges You: As Samuel the Lamanite preaches of Christ's birth, Nephites shoot arrows and throw rocks at him without managing to hit him once because he is protected by the power of God.

C - E

Cain and Abel: In the first Book of Nephi, Laman (the eldest brother) and Lemuel (the second oldest) antagonize their younger brother Nephi, to the point that they try to kill him or leave him to die in the desert. When they do reach the Americas and their father Lehi dies, Laman gets fed up with Nephi thinking he has authority over him and tries to murder him. The Lord warns Nephi, so he takes his family and they separate themselves from the families of Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael who accept Laman's leadership. The two groups and their descendants are named the Nephites and Lamanites through the rest of the narrative.
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The Book of Mormon contains a number of terms that would be anachronistic for pre-Columbian America. A common explanation is that Joseph Smith was using familiar English words to translate Reformed Egyptian words from the golden plates. For example, "horses" might be deer or tapirs while "swords" might be macuahuitl.^note
Call-Back: To the Bible.
- There are some references made to events that happened in Jerusalem/Israel at the same time, made evident through the prophets.
- Lehi prophesies to his family about John baptising Jesus.
- Lehi's son Joseph was named after Joseph of Egypt, and Lehi is a descendant of Joseph.
- Nephi sees John the Revelator in vision, and is told that he and John will see the same things but it will be John's job to write the rest of them.
- The third book of Nephi explicitly says that the line in John 10:16 "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." is at least partly in reference to the Nephites and Lamanites.
- The biblical prophet Isaiah is quoted extensively. Nephi treats his words as being recent, in contrast to "prophets of old".
Calling the Old Man Out:
- Laman has serious issues with his father, insisting that he's deluded and even plotting to kill him.
- Then we have King Limhi who kinda did this to King Noah. He doesn't want Noah dead, but he's aware that Noah has led the people far astray.
Capital Offensive: Near the start of the book of Helaman, the Lamanites start attacking again, but instead of hitting the outlying regions where the army is stationed, they head straight to Zarahemla, which, due to upheaval in the government, is left unguarded and vulnerable and falls rather easily. It backfires, though, since the Lamanite armies are then completely surrounded by the much better defended border cities.
The Cassandra: Any time the people become wicked, a prophet is likely to come and be rejected, after which their dire prophecies will be fulfilled. But Samuel the Lamanite is a notable example because the people reject his predictions while watching them happen, and they lay grand plans to slaughter everyone who believed him as soon as they can claim his deadline has passed.
Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken.
Cassandra Did It: The prophet Nephi (son of Helaman) is arrested as a suspected accomplice for correctly announcing that the chief judge has just been murdered. He then informs the authorities of the identity of the true culprit as well as how to trick him into confessing while also clearing his own name.
Catchphrase: "It came to pass" is used 1,404 times, roughly 1 out of every 5 verses start with this phrase.
Child Soldier: The final battles of the Jaredites involved gathering together everyone who could fight, recording that "men, women and children" were armed and armoured for war. Deconstructed as the loss of their families was terrible for the morale of the surviving soldiers, who would fight all day and then fill the air with lamentation and mourning at night — not to mention that once all the women and children were killed, the nation was doomed, even before the adult men finished killing each other off.
Choose Your Own Reward: Jesus asks his twelve disciples what they want when he returns to heaven. Nine of them ask to live to age seventy and then come to heaven with him. The last three are hesitant to admit that what they want is not to die at all so they can preach the gospel perpetually. Jesus praises and grants both desires.
The Chosen Many: Several books will have more than one prophet, a few even collaborating with each other, even if said book is named after that particular prophet. Nephi and his father Lehi for example.
Civil War: There aren't really any external enemies in the promised land, but the people manage to have a series of destructive wars anyway.
- Nephi's acrimonious relationship with his older brothers comes to a head after their father's death, when Laman and Lemuel decide to murder him. Nephi leaves instead, and many of the community choose to go with him — and he records that it's not long before they have "wars and skirmishes with our brethren." The hostility escalates over centuries, and even when they much later manage to reunify into one nation, things only last a few decades before breaking up again into Nephites and Lamanites. Ultimately the Lamanites wipe the Nephites out, while still being well aware that they are all family.
- The Nephites have plenty of internal disputes, too, from the outright wars started by Amlici and Amalickiah, to the "contentions, and disturbances, and wars, and dissensions" that result in many Nephites leaving to settle the land northward. The usual result of such conflict is that they're left vulnerable to the Lamanites, and the affected area is depopulated.
- Captain Moroni considered quelling an internal uprising to be more important even than responding to a Lamanite invasion, sending his armies marching against the capital to put down the rebels rather than to the borders. Amalickiah captures several cities as a result, but Moroni doesn't regret it. Given that a second uprising a few years later almost leads to losing the war, until Moroni stamps it out again, he may have had a point.
- The Jaredites divide evenly down the middle to follow two rival kings, Coriantumr and Shiz. So evenly, in fact, that they wipe each other out down to the last man, Coriantumr cutting off Shiz' head and then collapsing to the ground, all alone.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Potentially applicable in a variety of cases, but most notably with the Liahona, which works so long as Lehi's family believes that God can make it work, and stops working if they forget or rebel.
Cold-Blooded Torture: Appears a couple of times among especially wicked groups.
- Near the end of their civilisation, the Nephites would torture captured Lamanites to death.
- Implied to have happened to some of the people of Ammon, when their fellow Lamanites (or more specifically, formerly Nephite dissenters) attempted to provoke them into fighting back and defending themselves. It didn't work.
  Therefore, they would suffer death in the most aggravating and distressing manner which could be inflicted by their brethren, before they would take the sword or cimeter to smite them.
Les Collaborateurs: The Kingmen, who stage a coup and cooperate with the invading Lamanites. When Captain Moroni learns about the uprising, he quickly smashes it, and they're all tried and executed.
Colony Ship: At least three cases:
- The first is the barges built by the Jaredites centuries before Lehi's time.
- The ship that Nephi builds to bring his family across the sea to the Promised Land.
- Not seen, but there was one to bring the Mulekites over to Zarahemla from Jerusalem.
Comforting the Widow: Amalickiah arranges the murder of the king of the Lamanites, then goes to console the Queen. Shortly thereafter they are married. Presumably she never finds out what really happened. A more cynical interpretation is that the Queen realized Amalickiah had control of the army and a track record of assassinating people in his way, and that therefore marrying him was the best option left to her.
Consequence Combo: Lehi was promised that if his children kept the commandments of God, they would prosper in The Promised Land, but if not, they would be cut off. That promise and warning were echoed by each generation, Benjamin and Alma and Helaman reminding the people that they could have either blessing or cursing.
Conspicuous Consumption: A recurring theme is that society is going off the rails when people become divided into classes or social strata defined by the quality of the clothes they wear or the education they have access to. The wicked are often identified by their flaunting of wealth and/or power over the poor rather than helping them to acquire it.
Contrast Montage: Alma 48 depicts Amalickiah appointing demagogues to stir up the Lamanites into an angry mob, so that they'll forget their prior oaths not to go to war, while Captain Moroni is instead building walls and other defensive measures, for a people who would really rather not cut down their relatives but know they need to defend their families.
Therefore he had accomplished his design, for he had hardened the hearts of the Lamanites and blinded their minds, and stirred them up to anger, insomuch that he had gathered together a numerous host to go to battle against the Nephites. ... Now, they were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out of this world into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God.
Cool Sword: The Sword of Laban is described as having a hilt of gold and a blade of "the most precious steel."
Corrective Lecture: Several chapters are Alma giving his son Corianton a talking to, after Corianton ran away from his preaching responsibilities to chase a particularly attractive harlot. Alma's lecture mixes disappointment, encouragement to do better, and some revelations he's received in answer to the questions and uncertainties that led Corianton to stray in the first place. Corianton is later mentioned to be an effective missionary and in line to inherit the sacred records, so apparently the lecture was effective.
Corrupt Church:
- Nephi sees a vision of a "great and abominable church" formed after the deaths of Jesus and the Apostles, persecuting the saints of God and being driven by lust and greed. He's later told that there are only two churches, Jesus' and the devil's, so it was likely an umbrella term rather than one specific organisation.
- King Noah, after he ascends to the throne, deliberately corrupts the church, replacing all the priests with cronies whose job is to persuade the people that all is well, so that the king can go around building fancy monuments and having drunken parties.
- Korihor claims that the whole church is corrupt, "leading away the people after the silly traditions of their fathers, for the sake of glutting on the labors of the people." Alma responds by pointing out that this argument makes no sense when all the priests are entirely unpaid.
  Korihor: And thus ye lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your own desires; and ye keep them down, even as it were in bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the labors of their hands, that they durst not look up with boldness, and that they durst not enjoy their rights and privileges.
Corrupt Politician: Several.
- King Noah. He levies 20% taxes on everything, using the proceeds to build fancy buildings and spend his time on sex, alcohol, and parties. Note that by corrupting the church into preaching that all is well, he is still quite popular — at least until he starts martyring his few critics.
- The Gadianton robbers, in the book of Helaman, are able to place many of their members as judges, where they condemn the righteous, take bribes from the guilty, and generally lead the people around by the nose.
- The Jaredite king Riplakish basically enslaves his own people for forty years, with crippling taxes backed by prison sentences with hard labour (typically refining gold and otherwise making the king richer), until finally they rise up, kill him off, and exile his family.
Could Say It, But...: Captain Moroni, when negotiating a prisoner exchange, informs Ammoron that he could talk about how the sword of God's justice hangs over him, how hell awaits for murderers like Ammoron and his brother Amalickiah, but that it would be pointless to make such arguments to "a child of hell", so he's just going to make an offer instead. Ammoron is not amused.
The Coup: Several.
- In the Book of Alma, Amalickiah attempts one in Zarahemla but is rebuffed and goes over to the Lamanites. There he engineers a string of coups that puts him, first, in charge of all the Lamanite armies, and then over the Lamanite kingdom.
- Later in that book, the chief judge Pahoran is briefly driven out of Zarahemla by the king-men (who want to restore the monarchy). He calls Captain Moroni to put down the usurpers.
- In the Book of Helaman a coup is attempted against the newly elected Chief Judge by one of his rivals, but the ringleader, Paanchi, is quickly caught and executed. Then his followers assassinate the new judge anyway.
- Later, Nephi, son of Helaman, prophetically identifies the murderer of another chief judge, who killed him in an attempt to claim the position for himself. (Oh, and the murderer was the judge's brother.)
- Another one occurs in 3 Nephi when a conspiracy overthrows the government, but any attempt to take over quickly devolves into chaos. The nation fragments into tribes that don't agree on much except that they all want the conspirators dead.
Coup de Grâce:
- Nephi finds Laban so blackout drunk that he apparently doesn't react as Nephi picks him up by the hair and cuts his head off with his own sword.
- By the time Coriantumr and Shiz are the last two Jaredites alive to fight, Shiz has passed out from blood loss. Coriantumr, however, is so close to doing the same that he has to lean on his sword and rest for a bit before taking the opportunity to end Shiz.
Crowning the Criminal: Amulon is the leader of the late king Noah's corrupt priests, who were exiled and hunted when the majority of the Nephites became fed up with the king's cowardice. The priests, having left their families behind, then proceeded to kidnap dozens of girls from the Lamanites in order to marry them, which started a war; the Lamanites were understandably furious, blamed the Nephites as a whole, and came close to wiping them out before the situation was explained. Even then, tensions remained high, with the Lamanites still resentful and the Nephites' status changing from mere tributaries to actual slaves, burdened and driven like animals. However, once the Lamanites come across the priests living with their new wives, Amulon somehow impresses the king of the Lamanites so much that he's appointed to rule over the rest of the Nephites, the ones who had merely been tainted by association with him. Ruling with an iron fist, no less.
Curse: When Korihor refuses to retract his denial that there is a God, after being warned, Alma declares that God will smite him and make him mute, "that thou shalt never open thy mouth any more, that thou shalt not deceive this people any more." Upon finding that the curse is very real, Korihor breaks down and begs (in writing) for it to be lifted, but Alma predicts that if that happened, Korihor would return to lying, so he refuses, instead saying that it's now in God's hands. (The curse isn't lifted, and Korihor is soon reduced to begging for his food, before choosing the wrong neighbourhood and being trampled to death by a crowd.)
Cycle of Revenge: The final wars of both the Jaredites and the Nephites reached this stage.
- The Nephites wanted revenge on the Lamanites for the women and children sacrificed to idols when the Lamanites conquered their cities. But their own treatment of Lamanite prisoners was as bad, or possibly worse. Mormon, when describing their state, told his son Moroni that "they thirst after blood and revenge continually."
- Shiz wanted to kill Coriantumr in order to avenge his brother, who led a rebellion against Coriantumr and was killed in battle. Ultimately, though, the war proceeded despite Coriantumr's attempts to surrender, because most of the people on both sides had lost family and friends and wanted revenge on the other side.
Daddy's Little Villain: Jared's attempt to overthrow his father the king has just failed. Jared's daughter suggests a plan for a successful overthrow: Jared's friend Akish would kill the king in exchange for her hand in marriage. The plan gets Jared the throne and Akish married to Jared's daughter. Later, Akish murders Jared and takes the kingdom for himself. (The account doesn't reveal how Jared's daughter feels about the events that made her queen.)
Dead Man Writing: Several authors show awareness that they are writing for a time long after their own death, a "cry from the dust". Moroni, finishing the book, made particular mention of it.
Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
Dead Person Impersonation: Nephi decapitates a passed-out drunk Laban with his own sword and impersonates him by donning all of his garments and mimicking his voice to access the treasury that holds the plates of brass. He asks Laban's servant, Zoram, to come with him outside the walls of Jerusalem to bring the record to his elder brothers (who Zoram assumes are the brethren of the church). Seeing as Laban was a military leader who attempted to kill Nephi and his brothers, the sight of the disguised Nephi gave them quite a scare.
Death Seeker:
- Nine of Jesus' apostles wish to reunite with Jesus after they finish their work. This is treated more positively than most examples, as Jesus decides to grant that wish after their ministry is over (age 70).
- Moroni in the end. He's a bit more moderate than most examples as he doesn't really angst about it, but it's pretty clear that with his entire people annihilated he doesn't have anything to live for after he finishes his father's work.
  Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not.
Deathbed Confession: Both Sherem and Korihor, after being smitten by God, confess that they knew all along that their teachings were false and that God existed. Sherem is literally on his deathbed, and passes away immediately afterward; Korihor lives a short time, but being cursed with muteness and apparently lacking the skills to support himself, he's reduced to begging, and is then trampled to death when he tries the wrong neighbourhood.
Defensive Feint Trap: Used extensively by the Nephites, sending small warbands to lure much larger armies of Blood Knight enemies into abandoning fortified positions and giving chase. Even when their enemies started to wise up to the trick, the Nephites kept it going by varying their approach, such as using their main army as the lure and then circling around their pursuers at night to seize the city walls, or besieging armies that wouldn't take the bait.
Defiant to the End: King Noah is angry with Abinadi's diatribe against him and prophecy of his death, promising to execute Abinadi if he doesn't recant. Abinadi flatly refuses, and warns that killing an innocent man will be another charge against Noah at the final judgement. When the king goes ahead, Abinadi pronounces a Dying Curse while being burned alive, promising Noah and his henchmen that they'll be plagued and hunted and that the king will likewise die in fire.
Didn't Think This Through: The Gadianton robbers.
- Giddianhi leads them in taking over the abandoned lands of the Nephites and Lamanites — but they can't actually settle down and farm those lands without risking raids from the huge fortress that the people have retreated to. Eventually they have no choice but to attack the fortress head on, or starve.
- Giddianhi's successor takes this up to eleven by attempting to besiege the fortress. Which has seven years of supplies stockpiled, whereas the robbers are living on whatever meat they can scrounge by hunting in the wilderness. Not only is the siege completely ineffective at harming the Nephites, it also makes the robbers a stationary target at close range.
Dishonored Dead: When the city of Ammonihah is slaughtered, no one tries to bury the victims. Eventually they pile up the bodies and toss some dirt on them just to stop the smell. Perhaps that's because the city had banished all the men who believed in God and burned their families.
Disproportionate Retribution: Laman asks Laban for the brass plates containing their family history. Laban responds by declaring Laman a robber and summoning guards to kill him.
Downer Ending: Everybody dies. Twice.
- After having spent multiple centuries united, the Nephites and Lamanites split again, but this time the Nephites decline until both nations are about equally wicked — and the Lamanites have more numbers, allowing them to exterminate the Nephites. There are only a handful of survivors, whom the Lamanites hunt down and kill one by one, including Mormon himself.
- Before burying the plates, Moroni adds a summary of the records of the Jaredites, who flourished in The Promised Land for millennia before Lehi's family arrived, with millions of citizens at their peak, but ultimately fell into iniquity, rejected the prophets, and wiped themselves completely out in a Civil War, literally fighting down to the last man, Coriantumr, who killed his opponent and was then all alone.
Dramatic Irony: After arriving in the land of Bountiful, Laman and Lemuel complain (again) about leaving Jerusalem, and lament about how they would have been wealthy and happy if they had stayed. Comparing the dates with the Bible suggests that the complete destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians would have been happening at or near the time they were speaking.
Dream Sequence: Prophetic dreams, in this case.
- Lehi has a dream about an iron rod marking the way through a dark mist to a special tree. It's a good deal more coherent than regular dreams, as is to be expected from an apparent message from God, but things still have a tendency to appear out of nowhere.
- There's a much shorter dream vision recorded in the very first chapter, where Lehi sees what appears to be Jesus and the twelve apostles, and is given a book of prophecies about Jerusalem's destruction.
Drinking on Duty: On multiple occasions, Nephite prisoners are able to escape by getting their guards drunk.
- The people of Limhi, after being captured, are subject to tribute requirements of half their produce, including alcohol. When they've gathered their possessions to attempt an escape, they supplement their latest liquor tribute with extra, to ensure their guards will be very drunk that night. The Lamanites don't question this, they just drink up.
- Captain Moroni arranges a False Flag Operation, with a small group of men pretending to be escaped prisoners of war who happened to seize a cache of wine on their way out. The Lamanites are overjoyed to see them, and promptly get stuck in. The "escapees" then report back to Moroni, who captures the city and liberates all the Nephite prisoners kept there before the Lamanites wake up.
Drunk on the Dark Side:
- By the end of the Jaredites' final war, all the participants are caught in a Hopeless War that neither side can win (having already killed all the women and children), but they go on because they are "drunken with anger, as with wine." In other words, they've gotten so used to fighting and killing, that they can't do anything else by this point.
- Mormon writes to his son that the people around him have "lost their love, one for another," and that they "thirst after blood and revenge continually."
Dying Curse: While being burned alive, Abinadi cries out to his executioners, promising that they will be hunted by their enemies, plagued with diseases, and that the king will ultimately die by fire as well.
Abinadi: Thus God executeth vengeance upon those that destroy his people. O God, receive my soul.
Election Denial:
- Only a few years after the monarchy is replaced with a system of judges, a man named Amlici campaigns to be instated as a new king. It's put to a democratic vote, and he's defeated — but rather than accept it, he has his supporters anoint him their king, then sets out to conquer the rest.
- After the death of chief judge Pahoran, a Succession Crisis between three of his sons is resolved by holding an election, where the largest vote goes to the eldest, also named Pahoran. However, one of the other sons, Paanchi, gets upset by his loss and stirs up his supporters to secede and anoint him their king. This gets Paanchi tried for treason and executed, whereupon those supporters are upset further, and send a man to assassinate Pahoran.
Elective Monarchy: Officially, after king Mosiah, the Nephites replaced the monarchy with a codified law (only to be changed by referendum) and democratically elected judges. In practice, the chief judge also had considerable executive power (including issuing "regulations according to the law"), served for life unless he chose to Abdicate the Throne, and could name his own successor. The technical democracy did at least mean that a Succession Crisis could be resolved by voting — although not everyone willingly accepted the results.
Elite Army: The Lamanites always outnumber the Nephites, often by more than double, but the Nephites tend to have better equipment, better strategy, and better morale, as well as trusting God to empower and protect them. A noted example is when Amalickiah's invading army of Lamanites is intercepted and stopped in its tracks by Teancum's force, "for they were great warriors; for every man of Teancum did exceed the Lamanites in their strength and in their skill of war, insomuch that they did gain advantage over the Lamanites."
The End Is Nigh: Prophets always came and warned people before they were entirely wiped out.
- Lehi is stated to be a contemporary of Jeremiah and had a similar "Jerusalem will be destroyed unless you repent" message. The people plot his death in response.
- Abinadi warns the people of King Noah that they will be captured and driven and persecuted, and if they still don't repent, they will be entirely exterminated. The king tries to dismiss him as a madman, but when Abinadi starts glowing while preaching, that won't stick. So he executes Abinadi instead.
- Alma the Younger gets kicked out of Ammonihah when he first arrives and is told by an angel to go back and warn them they'll be destroyed if they don't repent. Some people are converted, but the majority of the citizens still reject Alma's words and either exile or kill all the converts, which seals their fate.
- Ether warns the last Jaredite king about the coming total mutual annihilation, but is rejected and has to run away and hide to avoid being killed.
Endless Daytime: As a sign of Jesus Christ's birth, the Sun sets but it doesn't become dark.
Enemy Mine:
- The Nephites and the Lamanites, usually mortal enemies of one another, join forces against the even more murderous Gadianton robbers in the third book of Nephi.
- Gideon swears that he will kill the king, but he's willing to put that on pause to deal with a Lamanite invasion that threatens everyone.
Engineered Heroics: After Nephi prophetically announces that the chief judge has been murdered, the judges who oppose him conclude that he must have conspired with someone to commit the murder and make people believe he's a prophet. Nephi refutes the accusation by giving them the information they need to catch the perpetrator, who admits to the crime but denies having anything to do with Nephi (and since that's enough for him to be executed, he has no motivation to lie).
Epic Fail: Giddianhi manages a regular level of fail when his robber armies assault the Nephites' giant fortress and are driven back after a tremendous battle, with Giddianhi himself among the casualties. What escalates it to an impressive, laughable level of fail is when his successor, Zemnarihah, then has the robbers besiege the fortress. Which is to say, the robbers who were already struggling to feed themselves without anyone to rob, are surrounding the fortress that specifically stocked up seven years of supplies, and the robbers are attempting to starve them out. Not only is it completely ineffective at harming the Nephites, while bringing the robbers themselves to the brink of starvation, it also makes the robbers stationary targets at close range for the Nephites to repeatedly make surprise sorties and take out thousands of them. And then as the cherry on top, when the robbers realize how useless their strategy is and attempt to retreat, the Nephites catch them at it, march out by night and surround them, shattering the famished remnants of their army and morale, and killing or capturing pretty much all of them. Zemnarihah really Didn't Think This Through.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- No matter how big of a jerk they are, nobody in the Book of Mormon breaks an oath. Nobody. Sometimes to the point of Honor Before Reason.
  - At least, not deliberately. Giddianhi the robber threatens the Nephites with destruction unless they join his robber band, and swears to spare or destroy them according to the decision they make. Neither happens because the Nephites end up destroying the robber band instead.
  - Well, almost nobody. King Laman broke an oath when he made war on King Limhi's people, but he was justified, because he thought Limhi's people had kidnapped the daughters of his people.
  - The Lamanites promise Alma Sr's people their freedom in exchange for directions to home, but then don't keep their promise.
- The Lamanites in Jacob's day were (at least from the Nephites point of view) uncivilized Blood Knights who often lived on raw meat and wanted to enslave the Nephites in order to grow fat and lazy off the Nephites' backs. But Jacob reminds the people that the Lamanites still love their families, and if the Nephites are unfaithful to their wives and children, God would sooner protect and preserve the Lamanites.
Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep":
- The Brother of Jared's real name is never revealed in the text. Joseph Smith later said his name was "Mahonri Moriancumer" which is quite a mouthful, and may explain why he is just called "the Brother of Jared" in the text.
- The name of King Lamoni's father is also not revealed.
"Everybody Dies" Ending: Happens for each major protagonist civilisation.
- The Nephites eventually lose their hopeless war and are wiped out by the Lamanites; even the prophet who recorded the final battle is eventually hunted down and killed afterward.
- The Jaredites kill each other until there is just one man left (plus the prophet in hiding whose ultimate fate is unknown). Since all the women and children were recruited into the war and killed off before the end, the nation is really most sincerely dead.
Evil Chancellor: Amalickiah makes a deal that sees him appointed second in command of the Lamanite army. Not for very long, though, since he then proceeds to have the leader quietly poisoned, leaving Amalickiah to inherit the position.
The Evil Prince: Frequently in Jaredite history, the king is overthrown and locked up by one of his sons. This might be to prevent the king from passing the kingdom to the son of his old age, as Jaredite kings tend to do.
Evil Versus Evil: The usual endgame for cities and nations. Mormon asserts that this is Laser-Guided Karma and a part of natural law; "it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed."
- Lamanites massacring the city of Ammonihah. The attackers were lashing out in frustration after their assault on the peaceful people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi didn't go according to plan. The defenders had exiled everyone who believed in God and then burned their families.
- The final battles of the Nephites. The Lamanites feed their prisoners on the flesh of their own families. The Nephites rape their prisoners, torture them to death, and then eat them "like unto wild beasts".
- The total mutual annihilation of the Jaredite factions. Both sides are so "drunk with anger" that even the king can't stop his supporters from fighting.
- On a smaller scale, Korihor the anti-Christ, after being cursed mute and cast out, is trampled to death by the Zoramites, who have no sympathy for the poor.
Externally Validated Prophecy: The Book of Mormon's prophecies about American history and the book's own translation and publication.
- Nephi sees in a vision the European discovery and colonizing of America, including The American Revolution.
- Lehi speaks to his son Joseph quoting a prophecy by Joseph of Egypt that the record of his people would be brought forth by a seer named Joseph (referencing Joseph Smith). The record would be published alongside the Bible and go forth among Joseph of Egypt's seed (presumably referencing the modern Lamanites).
- While quoting from Isaiah, 2 Nephi 27:15–20 goes into more details and describes a scenario where a learned man rejects the words of a book because it is sealed. This is generally associated with the 1828 encounter between Martin Harris and Professor Charles Anthon.
- Ether 5:2–4 and 2 Nephi 27:12–13 state that three witnesses would see the plates by the power of God, and a few others would see them and bear testimony. The official testimonies of these witnesses are included in the book's introduction.

F - K

Face Death with Despair: The Nephites were supposed to be gathering to Cumorah for a Last Stand, but when they actually see the endless Lamanite hordes coming for them, Mormon records that "every soul was filled with terror" and they proceed to fold like wet paper.
False Flag Operation: Some Lamanites who have deserted to the Nephites conceal their change of allegiance, pretending to be escapees, in order to get close to the guards over the city of Gid.
The Famine: Happens several times with prophetic involvement.
- The Jaredites have a major famine that wipes out several generations of the royal line, after rejecting the prophets who warned them it was coming.
- Nephi the son of Helaman deliberately prays for a famine in order to interrupt a Civil War. It works, briefly.
Fantastic Light Source: The Brother of Jared successfully asks the Lord to make a set of stones glow, so that they'll have a safe and continuous light source while crossing the ocean. Since the crossing takes nearly a year, plus whatever prep time remained after making the stones, this may double as an Infinite Flashlight.
Fate Worse than Death: As part of their angry rant against Nephi, his brothers claim it would have been better for their wives to have died before leaving Jerusalem, rather than suffer for eight years as they have done. (But note that they don't say they personally would have preferred to die, they only assert that about other people.)
A Father to His Men: Helaman refers to his 'stripling' warriors as his sons, while they call him father.
Fetch Quest: Lehi's sons have to return to Jerusalem and retrieve the brass plates from Laban before they can continue fleeing Jerusalem. The plates were pretty important, though, since they contained the scriptures of the time; centuries later, Lehi's descendants meet the Mulekites, who made a similar journey without bringing any written scriptures, and not only have they forgotten God, they don't even have mutually understandable language any more.
Film of the Book:
- The Book of Mormon Movie (Volume 1) was a film of the first part, at least, though many would rather pretend it doesn't exist. There hasn't been a Volume 2.
- There were animated adaptations of much of the book produced in the '90s as well, called Living Scriptures, of varying quality.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now (as of 2019) releasing what can be regarded as official video adaptations.
Final Speech: Lehi gathers his family around to give them some final counsel when he's old and knows he's about to die. Quite justified, since he had plenty of time to plan it.
Flashback:
- Large parts of the book of Mosiah are a flashback, first to the people of Zeniff, who split from the main body of the Nephites about 70 years earlier, then to the people of Alma, who split away from them, making the chronology quite confusing.
- About ten chapters of the book of Alma do the same, recounting the sons of Mosiah and their 14-year proselyting mission among the Lamanites, immediately after having recorded the end of their mission.
- Also the book of Ether, which records the history of the Jaredites, starting from thousands of years earlier.
Fling a Light into the Future: Happens a few times, and is referenced a few more times.
- The reason the records of the Nephites were compiled and hidden until Moroni led Joseph Smith to them. This is mentioned in the book of Enos as being something that many of the Nephite prophets prayed for, that if the Nephites became wicked and were destroyed, that they would at least leave a record for other nations to learn from. Near the end of the book, Moroni acknowledges several times that he's speaking for the benefit of distant future generations.
- The records of the Jaredites, which the Nephites found, were a similar attempt.
- Nearly happens to the people of Limhi; the prophet Abinadi warns them that they are already subject to serious punishment, but if they still don't repent, they'll be completely wiped out and just leave a record for others to find. In the end, they do repent, and only face twenty years of slavery.
Forced Food Taster: After the Nephites successfully liberate many prisoners of war from the Lamanites by getting the guards drunk, the Lamanites try to return the favour by providing Nephites with liquor that's strong or even poisoned. The Nephites have a simple solution, however: they have plenty of Lamanite prisoners, who can taste it first.
Forced to Watch: After preaching and having a handful of conversions in the city of Ammonihah, Alma the Younger and Amulek are arrested by the unconverted wicked leaders of the city, who kick out all the men who had converted and burn their wives and children (and scriptures) in a bonfire, forcing Alma and Amulek to watch. Amulek wants to call upon God's power to stop the scene of carnage, but the Spirit of God tells Alma not to, assuring him that the Lord will judge the wicked and the righteous people being burned are now martyrs and in heaven. (The city is slaughtered, to a man, a short time later.)
Foregone Conclusion: The destruction of the Nephites and its timing is predicted in the first book, and that prediction is repeated throughout. There's even a brief insertion from Mormon partway through, where he states that he is writing centuries later and the destruction is almost complete.
Foreshadowing:
- Very early on, God warns Lehi and his sons that if they're righteous, they'll achieve great prosperity in The Promised Land He's leading them to, but if they fall into wickedness, He will cut them off and destroy them. Many times thoughout the histories that follow, the Nephites are shown to triumph over or be miraculously saved from the Lamanites if they've been faithful to God, but are either captured and enslaved or suffer heavy losses in battle if they're behaving wickedly. And when the Nephites finally plunge fully into depravity at the end, God allows the Lamanites (who are also wicked at this point, but at least less so) to utterly annihilate them.
- Laman and Lemuel see multiple miracles and signs from God, even being directly reprimanded by an angel at one point, and still wind up abandoning their faith and trying to kill their brother. They're far from the last people who abandon their beliefs and turn against their former countrymen and families; some stand-out examples include Amulon and his fellow priests, Amlici and his followers, and the Zoramites.
- In his letter to Captain Moroni, Helaman briefly notes that even though his army has had amazing success in retaking captured cities from the Lamanites, things are getting a bit difficult because they haven't received any shipments of supplies in a while. Moroni immediately writes to the chief judge and asks for more supplies for Helaman, then sends a much more strongly worded follow-up when nothing happens. Eventually, the chief judge gets back to him and explains he's had his hands full dealing with a rebellion, which Moroni then has to suppress.
- The Jaredites are first mentioned in the Book of Omni, when one of the writers records that King Mosiah translated a record associated with Coriantumr, a survivor of a destroyed civilization. The second-to-last book, the Book of Ether, tells the story of the Jaredites and how Coriantumr became the Last of His Kind.
- The Book of Ether begins with a genealogy of the kings from reverse order (A is the son of B, B is the son of C...) and then proceeds to tell the story of those people in chronological order. Granted most of them were talked about very briefly as the book condenses about 25 generations into about 12 chapters.
Frame-Up: Amalickiah's servants stab the king of the Lamanites dead in front of all the king's servants — but they then scare the king's servants into running. And then they raise a hue and cry, claiming that the king's servants stabbed him, and using their flight as evidence.
Frontline General: Most of the time, kings and "chief captains" were expected to be in the field. There were exceptions, but they were apparently significant enough for the narrative to call them out.
- Alma sends an army without him to respond to invasion — because he's still injured from the last time, where he killed one enemy leader in single combat, and fought the king's personal guard while the king ran away from him.
- Amalickiah doesn't lead the Lamanite armies in person the first time they invade, and they get curb stomped. The second time, he does, and they make large inroads, capturing several heavily fortified cities and putting the Nephites thoroughly on the back foot.
Gone Horribly Right: Jared recruits the king's friend, Akish, to assassinate the king and put Jared on the throne. However, Akish doesn't simply do the job himself; he gathers all his friends and family and forms an entire oath-bound organisation. The king flees before they can finish him, and Jared gets the throne like he wanted, but Akish is now next in line and has command of a group of people whose job is to kill the reigning monarch...
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: King Lamoni is astonished by his father's angry reaction to his conversion and baptism. He doesn't back down, though.
Good Is Not Soft: Several characters, especially military leaders.
- Teancum definitely qualifies. Once he decides that Amalickiah is responsible for the war and has to go, he takes matters into his own hands and assassinates Amalickiah in his tent. He later does the same, albeit less cleanly, with Amalickiah's brother, who took over the war effort.
- Captain Moroni talks big, but often proves to be a softie at heart, preferring guile to battle and taking surrenders when possible. Still, when the situation calls for it, he's quite capable of ordering, "Kill them until they give up." He's also willing to threaten to overthrow his own government and install a more capable leader when the current chief judge seems indifferent to the fact that his army is hungry and the Lamanites are trying to wipe them out.
- Abinadi does not hold back when dressing King Noah and his priests down for corrupting the law and leading their people into wickedness. He harshly picks apart their hypocrisy and at one point warns them that God will strike them dead if they try to touch him before he finishes speaking before going right back to tearing into them. Even once his message is finished and he's being executed, he makes a point of warning them that they've brought similar suffering down on themselves by murdering a prophet of God.
- Most of the prophets depicted generally preach repentance and love for their fellow men, but when dealing with people who have fallen into wickedness, those teachings start to come with a healthy addendum of harsh warnings about the consequences of sin and promises that God will destroy those who don't repent.
Graceful Loser: Pacumeni campaigns and competes to become the chief judge after his father's death. But once it's clear that he won't win, he accepts it and "did unite with the voice of the people." (The third candidate, Paanchi, doesn't take it so well.)
Gratuitous Foreign Language: The Book of Mormon is, according to the LDS church, a Native American scripture translated into English by Joseph Smith. However some words, such as the mysterious animals curelom and cumom remain untranslated.
Greed: A frequent symptom of the Nephites turning back to wickedness is division between the rich and poor, with those who have wealth refusing to share it.
Greedy Televangelist: The two pillars of Nehor's preaching are a) everyone will be saved, no exceptions, no requirements; and b) preachers ought to become popular and be supported by the people rather than having to work with their own hands. He quickly gains enough of a following to set himself up with "very costly apparel," and even starts to establish a rival church — until he makes the mistake of getting violent when an elderly teacher challenges him, leading to the teacher's death, whereupon Nehor is arrested and executed. His followers remain, however, and his teachings have a lasting influence on the people for many years afterward, "for there were many who loved the vain things of the world, and they went forth preaching false doctrines; and this they did for the sake of riches and honor."
Healing Hands: Given that Christ himself shows up, one of the first things he does is invite the people forward so he could heal them of their injuries.
Healing Herb: During a peaceful season, the book of Alma mentions that rather than dying from wars, some people died from seasonal fevers, but less than it could have been due to "the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases".
Heel–Face Revolving Door: The Nephites and Lamanites repeatedly. However, they eventually run through all their chances, become utterly depraved, and the Lamanites wipe the Nephites out.
Heel–Face Turn: The possibility of this for anyone is an important theme.
- Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah go about trying to destroy the church of God. Then an angel appears and rebukes them all, putting Alma in an Angst Coma until he repents.
- Zeezrom, formerly an evil lawyer trying to catch Alma and Amulek in their words, has his conscience pricked by the word of God. He repents and eventually joins Alma and Amulek in preaching the gospel.
- Lamoni, his father, and all the Lamanites who were converted and became the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
- Alma has a heart-to-heart talk with his son Corianton, after Corianton hindered their missionary efforts through his boasting and promiscuity. Corianton's response isn't directly shown, but he appears to have turned around, because not only does he join in their preaching again without apparent problems, he was later considered a viable heir for the sacred records (only passed over because he was abroad).
Heel Realization: Amalickiah is able to get his people worked up and ready to fight, but when they see Captain Moroni's larger army facing them, waving banners proclaiming a readiness to fight for liberty, they start to have second thoughts about whether they're on the right side. Amalickiah ends up abandoning many of them and running away with the more loyal ones, then they're caught and he leaves most of those behind as he flees to the Lamanites to try his luck. Almost all his former followers surrender to Captain Moroni without a real fight and accept a covenant to protect liberty.
Heroic BSoD:
- Nephi has a brief one when he learns that his descendants will form a great nation that will end up being destroyed due to their wickedness.
- Mormon also has one as he mourns the utter destruction of the Nephites when it need not have happened.
Heterosexual Life-Partners:
- Alma and Amulek. It helps that all Amulek's family and friends were killed, while Amulek himself escapes because he believed and followed Alma.
- Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah. Partners in crime, rebuked by an angel together, then partners in preaching.
History Repeats: The book of Ether, in which the destruction of the Jaredites recapitulates the destruction of the Nephites. Though the Jaredites were actually destroyed first, their account appears in the narrative after the destruction of the Nephites.
Hoist With His Own Petard:
- The Amoral Attorney Zeezrom implicitly has a Heel Realization on the spot when he tries to bribe a pair of prophets, only for them to refuse the money and reveal that God has told them he never intended to pay up. Zeezrom is convinced that he's a wicked man and needs to repent — but plenty of other people aren't so remorseful, which is noted to be at least partly due to the past manipulations of Zeezrom and other crooked lawyers. Despite Zeezrom's best attempts to defend them, the prophets are then arrested by a mob Zeezrom himself helped rile up, and Zeezrom is exiled from the city.
- Jared hires a man (by offering his daughter's hand in marriage) to assassinate his father, the king, so that Jared can inherit. That man, Akish, gathers his friends together to form an oath-bound secret organization to do the job. Once the king is gone and Jared is on the throne, however, Akish (having married Jared's daughter) is the next in succession, so his organization disposes of Jared. For extra irony, they didn't actually manage to kill Jared's father; he was warned by the Lord and ran away.
Honor Among Thieves: The "secret combinations" are theoretically supposed to be this, with members protecting each other from outside influences such as law and order, and it works well enough to create serious obstacles to law enforcement, even multiple Civil Wars. However, any member who achieves high political office can still expect to be targeted by a hopeful successor.
Hopeless War: As mentioned above, the Nephite and Jaredite nations both end this way.
Hostile Weather: Sent by God.
- When Laman and Lemuel tie up Nephi on their ship, a large storm gathers, blows them off course, and threatens to sink them, escalating over four days, until they relent and let Nephi go.
- At Jesus' death, the whole land of the Nephites and Lamanites is covered in a storm like they'd never seen before — lightning, earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, floods — destroying or heavily damaging pretty much every city in the land. And then there are three days of palpable, choking darkness. A voice from heaven during the three days confirms that the destruction was a judgement from God on those who had killed the prophets, and pleads with the survivors to do better.
Humans Are Flawed: A major theme of the teachings in the book is that only God is perfect; everyone else, no matter how righteous, still has flaws and weaknesses they need to overcome. God will help those who genuinely want to overcome their flaws, but the trade-off is that He won't interfere with those who refuse to become better, as that would take away their freedom to choose for themselves.
Hypocrite:
- Abinadi calls King Noah and his corrupt priests out as this, pointing out that even though they claim to teach the Law of Moses, they practice idolatry, regularly commit whoredoms, and live off of heavy taxes they take from their subjects, blatantly violating the very commandments they claim to be teaching the people. The priests then prove his point by trying to have the only member of the group who speaks out for Abinadi killed and murder Abinadi himself by sentencing him to death on trumped-up charges.
- The people of Ammonihah claim to follow the teachings of Nehor, that no one needs to repent, but that doesn't stop them from lashing out at anyone who does things they don't like. They even believe that there is a devil, and accuse Alma and Amulek of using his power, while still claiming that sin is meaningless and there is no such thing as repenting.
- The Zoramites build synagogues, preach about God (over 100 times with the same prayer), and then never talk about him the entire rest of the week. They don't bother helping their poor and gorge themselves in their wealth. Bonus points because their weekly prayer is all about thanking God for saving them and condemning everyone else.
- When Laman approaches Laban, asking him to just hand over the brass plates, Laban angrily calls him a robber. When all four brothers return with a substantial treasure to buy the plates, Laban robs them, sending his servants to try to kill them so he can keep all their wealth without handing the plates over.
- Ammoron claims that he is waging war in order to restore the Lamanites' right to rule over the Nephites, asserting that the Nephites "robbed" the Lamanites, centuries ago, by leaving instead of putting Laman and Lemuel in charge. Not only is it an unreasonable claim, but Ammoron is a Nephite by birth, currently ruling over the Lamanites. Not only that, he gained the throne through his brother's trickery and intrigue and assassination of the prior Lamanite king. Ammoron is the very usurper that he falsely accuses Moroni of being.
Illegal Religion: Amulon orders the captive people of Alma to stop praying for deliverance, even setting guards to watch them and execute anyone who calls on God. They respond by praying silently in their hearts, to which God responds by praising their faith and promising assistance.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Teancum sneaks into Amalickiah's army at night while everyone is asleep and spears him in the heart, causing instant death. He later tries to do this again to Amalickiah's brother and successor Ammoron, but doesn't make as clean of a kill, causing Ammoron to scream before he dies. Ammoron's screams wake up his guards, who hunt down and kill Teancum.
Improperly Paranoid: Despite the church leaders all working without pay, sometimes forgoing any other employment to go out and preach in adverse conditions, nonetheless many of the Nephites decide that it's a Corrupt Church just trying to control them — and they turn instead to the "secret combinations" that rule their members with an iron fist, desire only power and wealth, and routinely backstab each other to get it.
Improvised Weapon:
- Nephi makes himself a bow from nearby wood, and a single arrow "out of a straight stick," after breaking his previous bow. It's not entirely clear how much effort went into the crafting, but since he and his family were all going hungry until he was able to hunt something, he couldn't have spent very long on it.
- Zeniff's people, when surprised by the Lamanites and scrambling to defend themselves, take up not just swords and clubs, but "all manner of weapons which we could invent."
- The Lamanite prisoners taken from the city of Cumeni stage a number of uprisings with stones, clubs, and "whatsoever thing they could get into their hands." It's not very effective against properly armed guards, resulting in massive casualties amongst the rebels, but it's enough to occupy the whole Nephite army while deciding what to do about them.
Innocent Means Naïve: Discussed regarding Adam and Eve; while they were in the Garden of Eden, they had no concept of pain, suffering, or sin, but due to the Balance Between Good and Evil, they were also incapable of understanding pleasure, joy, or righteousness and were incapable of learning or changing. Hence the entire setup with the Forbidden Fruit; the only way to comprehend sin was to knowingly and willingly disobey God, bringing about the Fall.
Insane Troll Logic: Anti-Christ preachers have some of this.
- Korihor preaches that there is no God. How does he know there is no God? Why, an angel of God visited him with a message from God, telling him to preach that there is no God!
- Sherem declares that prophesying about the future is blasphemous, that he knows there will never be a Christ, and that he believes the scriptures — each of which statements contradicts the other two.
Inspirational Martyr: Abinadi gets burned to death by wicked King Noah, but not before his teaching convinces Alma (Senior) to repent. Alma then starts teaching people what Abinadi said, but the king gets wind of it and sends the army after them, too — which triggers a public outcry and a rebellion against him, with the king almost being assassinated before they're interrupted by invading Lamanites. Once the immediate threat has passed, the people get so fed up with Noah that they burn him like he burnt Abinadi.
Instant Death Stab:
- Teancum assassinates the sleeping king of the Lamanites with a javelin straight to the heart, killing him so quickly that he doesn't have a chance to wake anyone else up. Later subverted when Teancum tries the same thing on the king's successor, but is angry enough that he throws the javelin instead of making a careful Coup de Grâce; it's a mortal wound, but not instantaneous, allowing the king to wake his guards to retaliate.
- Helaman's servant, who has been undercover and learned of an assassination plot, manages to approach the would-be assassin and stab him in the heart, dropping him dead "without a groan". Even such a quick and quiet death isn't fast enough, though; the assassin's employer notices he's not back in time and evacuates before anyone can catch him.
Kangaroo Court:
- Before executing Abinadi, the king wants to make a pretense of being justified, so he locks Abinadi away for three days while talking to his corrupt priests about what kind of accusation they might be able to make stick (after chasing away the one priest who spoke up on Abinadi's behalf). Once they think they have something, they call Abinadi back in, announce what he's going to be convicted of, then never question him about it nor give him a chance to defend himself, instead jumping straight to the offer of a royal pardon if he recants his prophecies about the death of the king and the enslavement of the people. Abinadi, who is Not Afraid to Die, flatly refuses and states that God will judge them for shedding innocent blood.
- The people of Ammonihah drag Alma and Amulek in front of the chief judge and start accusing them with a mixture of truth and lies, eg that Amulek condemned their laws and lawyers and judges — he did say the Ambulance Chaser lawyers and judges were wicked, but he never spoke against the law, he said that they were breaking the law. Anyone who tries speaking in their defence is abused and thrown out. Anyone who admits to believing their message is likewise thrown out, and his wife and children publicly burnt to death. The judge then throws Alma and Amulek in prison and joins in harassing and mistreating them, stripping them naked and starving them and beating them, demonstrating that he was part of the corruption all along.
- The Nephites find the chief judge dead, and five men unconscious nearby. They conclude that those five must be the murderers, and that God has smitten them down to stop them from fleeing, proceeding to throw the men in prison and make a widespread proclamation of their guilt — all without actually trying or questioning them. When it's later discovered that they're not guilty, but were sent there to investigate Nephi's prophetic warning of the murder, the five are released, while Nephi gets arrested and tried — which starts with the judges declaring him guilty and trying to bribe him to reveal his conspirators.
Kissing Cousins: Not specifically described, but inevitable considering Lehi and Ishmael's children marry one another and their children are born in the wilderness. The only possible aversion is Zoram, who marries Ishmael's eldest daughter. But even then, Zoram's children would have to marry into Nephi and Jacob's family after the split between brothers.
Know When to Fold 'Em:
- Alma Sr's people, upon being found by a Lamanite army, make no attempt to fight or run, but merely surrender, even when they're treated cruelly and unjustly. Within a year or two, God delivers them out of captivity and back to safety with the main body of Nephites.
- The Lamanites at the city of Gid wake from a night of drinking to find the city surrounded and their prisoners armed. They surrender without a fight.
  And thus they saw that the Nephites had power over them; and in these circumstances they found that it was not expedient that they should fight with the Nephites; therefore their chief captains demanded their weapons of war, and they brought them forth and cast them at the feet of the Nephites, pleading for mercy.

L - R

Laser-Guided Karma:
- After a round of internal strife, the Nephites choose to split up, with many of them heading northward to colonize new lands. The next time the Lamanites invade, the remaining defenses in the south are inadequate and most of the Nephite territory is lost.
- Alma expounds on the subject to his son Corianton, assuring him that "that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored".
- King Noah has the prophet Abinadi burned to death after Abinadi calls him to repent. A short time later, when the Lamanites invade and the people run away, Noah's cowardice provokes his followers into, you guessed it, burning him to death.
- God is willing to spare wicked people for the sake of the righteous, but if a society becomes so wicked they kill or drive out all their righteous members, they're usually wiped out in short order.
  - Downplayed for the people of King Noah (and later Limhi); Noah sent his army to wipe out the believers, forcing them to flee into the wilderness. Shortly after, the Lamanites invade, Noah is killed, and the people are enslaved. However, this group learns their lesson and repents, so after twenty years of slavery the Lord has mercy on them and helps them escape.
  - When Alma (the younger) converts some of the citizens of Ammonihah, the leaders of the city round up the believers, exile the men, and burn the women and children alive while forcing the missionaries who converted them to watch. Less than a year later, the Lamanites come through, destroy the city, and massacre everyone.
Last Chance to Quit:
- The Nephites get this from God during a ten-year ceasefire with the Lamanites, with Mormon calling them to repent and be spared. When the war starts again, though, they win their first, defensive, battle — and then turn to boasting, swearing revenge by everything they can think of, and planning to go on the offensive. God then tells Mormon that that's it, he's cutting them off.
- Coriantumr, king of the Jaredites, is warned that if he doesn't repent, he will see his people entirely destroyed around him and will witness the people God brings in to replace them. After rejecting the message and continuing with his war, he actually does try to repent later, but finds that he's too late; the people have become so blinded by rage and hatred that he can't stop them from killing each other anymore.
Last of His Kind: Moroni from the Nephites, Coriantumr from the Jaredites. Ether sort of counts, but by the end of the Jaredites, he wasn't really part of them any more, just an observer.
Literal Disarming:
- Ammon defends himself from a gang of club-wielding robbers by "smiting their arms with the edge of his sword". He apparently cut all the way through, because his fellow servants then proceed to gather up the fallen arms, to present to the king as evidence of his achievement.
- He later strikes the arm of the king of the Lamanites in a duel, hard enough to disable it and prompt the king to surrender, though not cutting it all the way off.
- The Lamanites react to the first introduction of serious body armor and helmets by going into a frenzy and delivering heavy blows that pierce the protection, or targeting the joints to "smite off many of their arms". Ultimately, however, they're cut down faster than they can break through.
Literal Genie: Two people demand signs that Jesus exists. One is struck down on the spot and dies shortly thereafter, the other is cursed to be mute "that thou shalt never deceive this people any more" and has to go from house to house, begging, until he dies. They got their proof...
Lured into a Trap: Helaman is initially concerned, when the Lamanites stop chasing his small army, that they might be waiting to catch him if he investigates. But his soldiers all agree to take the chance, and it turns out to be the right call; the Lamanites actually stopped because they were caught by the Nephites, and Helaman's reinforcements are sorely needed.
Made a Slave: The Lamanites' major motivation in going to war, besides revenge, is the prospect of enslaving the Nephites and being able to sit back while the Nephites do all the work. During the book of Mosiah, they actually manage it for several decades due to king Noah's poor military preparations, putting the Nephites to 50% tribute and then later starting to put burdens on them and drive them like cattle.
Magic Compass: One of the spindles in the Liahona points the direction that Lehi's family should travel — so long as they're righteous and faithful. Otherwise, it stops working.
Man on Fire:
- King Noah is burned by his own people, after he tries to make them abandon their families to follow him.
- Noah's priests, who joined the Lamanites, later burn any Lamanites who accept the gospel.
- Women and children in Ammonihah who had been taught the gospel are burned in retaliation against Alma and Amulek's preaching.
- Abinadi is burnt to death for prophesying the death of the king, slowly enough that he's able to pronounce a Dying Curse on those responsible.^note
May–December Romance: It's not clear exactly how old Coriantum was when he married "a young maid", but his late wife was 102, and he himself was said to be "exceedingly old," eventually dying at 142. The remarriage did, however, succeed in producing heirs.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Righteous Jaredite king Shez is threatened by the rebellion of his eldest son — and then the son is killed by a robber, restoring peace. The text makes no attempt to speculate on whether this was Divine Intervention.
Meaningful Rename:
- The priests of king Noah abandon their wives and children, separate from the people of Limhi, and then go on to conquer and rape and pillage with the Lamanites. After the people of Limhi return to Zarahemla, the abandoned families retaliate by rejecting their family names and just calling themselves Nephites.
- The Lamanites converted by the sons of Mosiah are displeased with their ancestor Laman's behaviour, and decide to call themselves "Anti-Nephi-Lehies" ie "descendants of Lehi who aren't descendants of Nephi", dropping Laman's name.
Melee Disarming: After negotiations for the Lamanites' surrender break down, their leader Zerahemnah simply draws his sword and rushes at Captain Moroni. However, one of Moroni's guards strikes the sword out of his hand to the ground, so hard that it breaks.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Morianton very nearly leads away a large group of Nephites to settle the "land northward", which would likely have compromised the Nephites' defensive line against Lamanite invaders (plus, the reason Morianton wanted to run was that his people had tried to cheat one of their neighbours, and he knew the civil government would rule against him). Before he can leave, though, he makes the mistake of beating up one of his servants in a fit of temper; she runs straight to Chief Captain Moroni and spills everything, allowing his army to intercept the runaways.
The Mole: One of Helaman's servants, in disguise, infiltrates Kishkumen's secret band of thieves and murderers, enabling him to intercept and thwart Kishkumen's Assassination Attempt on Helaman.
Mook–Face Turn: Zoram, the servant of Laban, is initially tricked into helping Nephi retrieve the brass plates, but discovers the deception when Nephi meets up with his brothers. Nephi then persuades him to come join the family as a free man rather than report them to anyone, and apparently they become good friends.
Moral Myopia:
- Ammoron, in his letter to Moroni, accuses the original Nephi of robbing his brothers of their right to the government of the people — because Nephi left to avoid conflict, and many of the people freely chose to go with him. Meanwhile, Ammoron became king of the Lamanites as a result of his brother poisoning and backstabbing and sleeping his way to the top. Oh, and since Ammoron was a Nephite by birth, that means that he himself was an example of a Nephite robbing the Lamanites of their rightful government.
- Laman and Lemuel also claimed that Nephi robbed them by taking the brass plates, and the sword of Laban, and the Liahona. Nevermind that it was Nephi who executed Laban, claimed his sword, and talked his servant into handing over the plates. Or that the Liahona was a gift from God that consistently worked for Nephi but frequently rejected Laman and Lemuel for their faithlessness.
Morton's Fork: The Nephites try to kill Samuel, but they can't hit him. They conclude that he's using the power of the devil and attempt to have him arrested and executed for it.
Mugged for Disguise: After cutting Laban's head off, Nephi strips him and puts on all his clothes, "yea, even every whit," so as to impersonate Laban and get access to his treasury where the scriptures are kept. Laban's sword later becomes a family heirloom.
Murder by Inaction: Captain Moroni threatens the government that if they don't put enough effort into sending provisions and soldiers to the front line, then the resulting casualties are on their heads.
And now, my beloved brethren—for ye ought to be beloved; yea, and ye ought to have stirred yourselves more diligently for the welfare and the freedom of this people; but behold, ye have neglected them insomuch that the blood of thousands shall come upon your heads for vengeance; yea, for known unto God were all their cries, and all their sufferings—
Named After Somebody Famous: Usually Lehi's immediate family.
- On his deathbed, Lehi tells one of his young sons, Joseph, that he not only named him after the Joseph from Egypt, but that in the future, there will be another Joseph who would find their plates, and restore God's church.
- Several Lamanite kings are named "Laman". The Nephites apparently have a similar thing going, where their kings' birth names aren't "Nephi" but the people call them "Second Nephi", "Third Nephi", etc, as a mark of respect for the original.
- Lamoni's father, whose name is not given, calls his heir "Anti-Nephi-Lehi" ie "a member of Lehi's family who isn't Nephi," which is basically a euphemism for Laman, because they'd been convinced that Laman was a bad example and didn't want to carry his name any more.
- Helaman calls his sons "Nephi" and "Lehi" and encourages them to live up to their namesakes' reputation. Nephi at one point loudly laments the fact that he is preaching to a much more stubborn group of people than the original Nephi faced, but he does the job anyway.
Nay-Theist:
- Despite seeing plenty of signs that God is real, including having an angel sent to tell them off at one point, Laman and Lemuel still refuse to be righteous. The fact that their descendants believe in a "Great Spirit" who created the world indicates that they knew God is real; they just didn't care enough to obey Him and change their wicked behavior.
- Korihor gains a following by preaching against religion in general and Christianity in particular. He initially appears to be a Hollywood Atheist, but eventually (after being cursed with muteness) admits that he knew there was a God all along, but was persuaded by a Fallen Angel to preach against Him — and had so much success that he started to believe what he was teaching.
The Needs of the Many: The reasoning given for Nephi decapitating Laban: "It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief." (1 Nephi 4:2)^note
No-Sell: The Anti-Nephi-Lehies are having none of it when Korihor shows up preaching false doctrine and exile him from their part of the land in short order. Korihor tries the land of Gideon next, but is tied up and sent to the chief judge for his trouble.
Not Afraid to Die:
- Even before Abinadi finishes preaching, he acknowledges that God's protection will only last until he's done, but declares that it doesn't matter what they do to him at that point. Once that occurs and he's facing execution, rather than recant his words and be spared, he just chastises the king, promises that God will punish them for murdering him, and pronounces a Dying Curse.
  Abinadi: Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you.
- The people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi aka the people of Ammon.
  - The first generation, feeling that they can't waste their second chance after redemption from their violent past, swears an Actual Pacifist oath. The text indicates that they could not be swayed by threats or even torture, and thousands of them are killed by their former brethren, without putting up a fight, until the Nephites give them asylum.
  - The next generation learns that same absolute commitment, without having sworn an oath of pacifism — instead, they swear to protect liberty, and their fearlessness makes them an unreasonably effective fighting force. The first time they fight, they shrug at the possibility of a trap and hit a much larger army from behind so hard that they turn the tide of the battle and scare the Lamanites into surrendering. A few chapters later, in a narrative that normally measures armies in thousands, it was apparently worth mentioning that reinforcements included sixty more of these soldiers — and they were instrumental in turning the tide of the following battle, too. Helaman records that they didn't worry much about their lives, firstly because they trusted God, and secondly because liberty was more important to them.
- A darker example is described in Moroni chapter 9, where Mormon states that the people have lost their fear of death by becoming consumed with anger and bloodthirst and revenge.
An Offer You Can't Refuse:
- Ammon cripples the king of the Lamanites in single combat, then demands the release of his missionary companions from prison, or he'll finish the job. To be fair, the king started it.
- Captain Moroni is pretty clear when he has Zerahemnah's armies surrounded: "Now as ye are in our hands we will spill your blood upon the ground, or ye shall submit to the conditions which I have proposed." They weren't especially onerous conditions, though, merely disarming and swearing an oath not to invade again.
Offered the Crown: Happens many times, especially when settling a new land. Righteous men usually turn it down.
- After first separating from the Lamanites, Nephi's people want to make him their king, but he won't accept it — then he spends his life basically doing the job anyway. He eventually appoints a successor to officially hold the title.
- Zeniff is crowned by the colonists whom he leads back to the land of Nephi centuries later. Notably, Zeniff himself seems to have been a decent ruler, but his son Noah becomes a lesson to future generations about how monarchy can go wrong.
- Alma senior leads away a small group of people who listened to the prophet Abinadi and were hunted by Noah as a result. When they try to crown Alma, he points to Noah as an example of why kings are dangerous.
- The Jaredites settle in the promised land, and try to crown the brother of Jared's oldest son, but he refuses. And so do all his brothers. And all but one of Jared's sons. Eventually Orihah, Jared's youngest son, accepts.
- A darker example when Amalickiah sets his sights on the Lamanite throne, using trickery and assassination to remove everyone in the way, win the people's favor, and marry the queen (whom he widowed).
Off with His Head!: The final battle of the Jaredites comes right down to the wire, with the two armies mutually annihilating each other over the course of a week until only the two feuding kings are left. One of the two, Shiz, has fainted from blood loss, while the other, Coriantumr, is only nearly there, so after resting for a bit, Coriantumr beheads Shiz. (But since all the women and children were the first casualties, it's a hollow "victory" over a dead kingdom.)
Out-Gambitted: Amalickiah uses ex-Nephites as his military captains, because they're the most familiar with Nephite weaknesses. Moroni anticipates this tactic, however, and makes sure to thoroughly reinforce and fortify the cities that they'll hit first. The result is a one sided slaughter that sends the Lamanites running for home.
The Paralyzer: At God's direction, Nephi delivers some kind of incapacitating shock to his rebellious brothers by touching them. Apparently, if they had attacked him, they would have received a much stronger jolt and died on the spot.
Passing the Torch:
- Captain Moroni, after winning a long war and restoring peace, hands over his position to his son and retires.
- The plates of Nephi and associated holy relics are passed down from father to son, or sometimes brother, for the Nephites' whole thousand-year history.
Pillow Pistol:
- Helaman records that when besieging the city of Cumeni, his army "did sleep upon our swords, and keep guards," allowing them to thwart multiple nighttime attempts to break out of the encirclement.
- In the final battle of the Jaredites, lasting almost a week, the dwindling armies are noted to fight all day, from dawn to dusk, and then sleep on their swords at night.
Poetry: Several passages, most notably Alma chapter 36, use the poetic form known as chiasmus, where a series of ideas is presented first in order and then in reverse. Alma was stated to be a skilled orator, and chapter 36 records some of his final words to the son who would inherit the sacred records handed down from Nephi, so it does make sense that this little speech would be carefully planned.
Polyamory:
- Jaredite men are described as having multiple wives, though not much is made of it except that they had rather a lot of children.
- The Nephites attempted it, but the prophet at the time slapped them down, saying that it was only acceptable with a direct command from God.
- King Noah apparently had multiple wives and concubines, with whom he spent his time in "riotous living", and became the poster boy for wickedness and excess.
Poor Communication Kills: The Lamanites learn that twenty four of their young women have been kidnapped, and immediately respond by raising an army and marching on the Nephites. After heavy casualties on both sides and the Lamanites temporarily retreating, the two kings finally have a conversation, which promptly reveals that the Nephites had no idea why the Lamanites were attacking, hadn't heard anything about the kidnapping, and once they hear, they are entirely willing to help investigate it and execute whoever was responsible.
P.O.W. Camp: The Nephite version doesn't seem to have been too bad, although admittedly the narrator was a Nephite. Captured Lamanites were frequently put to work "because it was easy to guard them while at their labor", on tasks like building fortifications around Nephite cities.
The Power of Language: When speaking on God's behalf, that is.
- Nephi the son of Helaman is commended by God and told that for his faithfulness, "all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will." That is to say, Nephi can now command anything to happen — famines, plagues, casting down mountains, you name it — and the Earth will obey him as it would obey God. He uses it to stop a war, and to preach repentance without being killed.
- Moroni mentions that the Brother of Jared once commanded a mountain to move.
Prefers Raw Meat: During Lehi's journey across the Arabian desert, the Lord commands him and his family not to cook their meat, promising to make it taste sweet instead.^note Nephi confirms that they were living on raw meat for years, but that they were blessed with health and strength anyway.
Pride: One of the most troubling conflicts in the entire book is because of this. In the first book of Nephi, Laman and Lemuel were full of this in near Cain and Abel levels. Just because Laman is the oldest brother and doesn't want to follow Nephi. In later books, this is what caused the downfall of several major cities to come. Before and after Christ returns to Earth after his continued ministry on Earth after his resurrection. Eventually, the Nephites are destroyed, save those who sided with the Lamanites, which brings another Apostasy for centuries to come.
Prisoner Exchange: Subverted; it's discussed extensively, but we never actually see one happen.
- After Amalickiah and then Ammoron capture a number of cities and carry off the inhabitants, Moroni instructs Teancum, one of his commanders, to try to take prisoners so that they can ransom their people back.
- Helaman receives an offer to trade Lamanite prisoners for the return of one of the Nephite cities, but replies that he's confident he can reconquer the city himself, and will only give up prisoners on exchange for Nephite prisoners.
- Moroni and Ammoron later negotiate to exchange prisoners, but things break down because they can't stand each other. Moroni liberates the Nephite prisoners himself instead.
- After Moroni's war, most of the Lamanite prisoners join the Actual Pacifist people of Ammon.
The Promised Land: A recurring theme. Nephi asserts that it's God's modus operandi.
- Lehi's family is led to the Americas, which are everything they were hoping for. Their waypoint, the land of Bountiful, was pretty sweet too.
- Nephi is warned to take whoever will listen and leave the family's initial settlement to avoid escalating tensions with his brothers. The "land of Nephi" that they come to must have been pretty good, because it later becomes the Lamanite capital, and a group of Nephites is willing to risk war and/or enslavement to go back to it.
- Mosiah is warned, again, to leave the land of Nephi with whoever will go, and they find the land of Zarahemla, where a substantial nation welcomes them with open arms and promptly makes Mosiah their king.
- The Jaredites are similarly promised the Americas, but they wipe themselves out a few centuries after Lehi's family arrives, without previously coming in contact.
Properly Paranoid: Gadianton escapes arrest and execution by evacuating promptly after his hitman doesn't return fast enough — and he apparently didn't wait very long.
Public Execution: Nehor has considerable success in preaching his message of unconditional salvation and commercialising the gospel, but when he goes too far and kills a man for arguing against him, he's tried, condemned, and carried to the top of a hill to be executed "between the heavens and the earth."
Pyrrhic Victory: After years of constant warfare, Coriantumr finally beheads Shiz. But by that point, all the women and children had been conscripted into the armies, which then proceeded to mutually annihilate each other, meaning that Coriantumr "wins" a dead and empty kingdom.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: The only time that rape is mentioned is in connection with the most depraved group of people to be recorded, who would then torture their victims to death afterward and devour the bodies. The rape itself is described as "depriving [the victims] of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue," and the writer, who is of the same nation, nonetheless laments that he can't help but think the impending destruction of his people is a good thing.
Reality Warper: Nephi, the son of Helaman, is commended by God for his faithfulness and obedience, and told that he is being given power that "all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will." God elaborates by explaining that Nephi can command buildings and mountains to fall, call down famine and plagues, prophesy destruction and have it fulfilled. When people who reject his message try to seize him, he's transported away from them. When civil war breaks out, Nephi interrupts it with a tremendous famine, and when that leads to a Heel–Face Turn, he ends it and rain comes back. During the later ministry of Samuel, it's mentioned that Nephi is traveling around the land crying repentance and prophesying of the future and performing great miracles; any who desire to be baptized go to seek him out.
Religious Russian Roulette: This is treated as either a positive or negative thing, depending on the asker's attitude. Those who are wicked and demand a sign before they'll admit they're wrong generally suffer, but those who are willing to believe in God and just want confirmation they're on the right track tend to come out much better.
- The chief judge and priests of Ammonihah tell Alma and Amulek they won't believe that God intends to destroy them unless they manage to break their bonds, accompanied by a great deal of mockery and physical abuse. Eventually, Alma and Amulek pray to God, who gives them the strength to do exactly what the people of Ammonihah asked. An earthquake then collapses the prison, killing everyone else inside but leaving Alma and Amulek unharmed.
- Korihor says he won't believe in God unless God shows him a sign. Alma tries to convince him that God has given them enough signs with the scriptures and the creation, but Korihor still insists he doesn't believe and won't believe without a sign, which he gets by being struck dumb.
- Sherem makes a similar challenge, collapses on the ground, and dies within days.
- King Lamoni and his father both fall on their knees in prayer and promise to serve God wholeheartedly if He reveals Himself to them. Both of them collapse, but unlike Sherem, they're being overcome with joy, and wake up later totally converted to the gospel.
- Moroni invites the reader to ask God whether the book is true and expect an answer, so long as they ask "with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ," and preferably after contemplating God's blessings.
Revenge: Upon discovering that some girls have been kidnapped, with indications that the people of Limhi were responsible, the Lamanites marshal their armies to wipe Limhi's people out. After learning, during a lull in the fighting, that the individuals responsible are already fugitives, the Lamanites relinquish their campaign and spare the people — but still hold a grudge.
Revenge Before Reason: Shiz is so single-mindedly focused on avenging his brother (who, mind you, was killed in a fair fight by the arguably more legitimate claimant to the throne), that when the target of his ire, Coriantumr, realizes that the Civil War is destroying their nation and tries to abdicate and surrender, he can't. Coriantumr repeatedly tries to persuade Shiz to take the kingdom and stop the war, right up to the point where all the women and children have been brought into the fight and thus their whole society is on the verge of destroying itself. Shiz doesn't care, and intends to kill Coriantumr or die trying. Ultimately, they fight until Coriantumr is literally the last man standing, the only other survivor being the prophet Ether who stayed out of the fight to record the events, and right until the end Shiz was still swearing vengeance or death.
And it came to pass that Coriantumr wrote again an epistle unto Shiz, desiring that he would not come again to battle, but that he would take the kingdom, and spare the lives of the people. But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.
Revenge Myopia:
- One of the Lamanites is very angry and attempts to assassinate Ammon for killing his brother. Said brother was the leader of a band of robbers who tried to chase away the king's flocks while they were under Ammon's care — which, besides almost certainly being a capital offence, would have seen the deaths of every servant involved, including Ammon, for the failure if the robbers didn't kill the servants themselves (and several prior batches of servants had been executed for similar failures to stop robbery). Furthermore, the leader was the one Ammon killed, not with his sling, but his sword — meaning that the leader had watched Ammon outdo them all at range, and then instead of retreating, the robbers chose to come closer and try to club Ammon to death. It was very much self defence on Ammon's part. Nonetheless, when the brother sees Ammon unconscious, he immediately draws his sword in anger to kill Ammon.
- Ammoron is very angry at the Nephites for "murdering" his brother Amalickiah. Never mind that at the time, Amalickiah was leading an invading army to conquer the Nephites and drink the blood of their leader. Or that Amalickiah was in that position because he murdered, tricked, and usurped his way to the Lamanite throne, and then used a propaganda campaign to start a war that even the Lamanites initially didn't want. Or that he was killed in a military camp in the field, with a standard weapon, by an enemy soldier during wartime. No, Ammoron calls it murder and wants revenge.
- Shiz is obsessed with killing king Coriantumr to avenge Shiz' brother Lib. Lib had made use of an illegal secret conspiracy to usurp the throne from Coriantumr, and was then killed in battle when the loyalist part of the army fought back under Coriantumr's leadership. Note that Shiz is so bent on revenge that he doesn't even accept a peace offering where Coriantumr, having had a Heel Realization, is willing to abdicate in favour of Shiz; nothing less than Coriantumr's death will satisfy Shiz.
Reverse Psychology: When a Lamanite who has apparently escaped from Nephite custody reveals that he's brought wine with him, the Lamanite guards want to try it, but he encourages them to save it all for when they're next in combat — which only makes them more eager, All According to Plan. They end up completely drunk, and the man who brought the wine promptly reports back to Moroni, who captures the city before they wake up.
Rightful King Returns: Jaredite conquerors had a habit of keeping the legitimate king "in captivity", even for several generations, which typically led to a son or descendant gathering followers and taking the throne back. Morianton was exiled through a popular rebellion against his ancestor, rather than being captured, but the result was the same.
Rousing Speech: Captain Moroni rallying his people to defend themselves from the Lamanite army. The impact of his words was likely increased by the fact that his flag was made from his own torn coat, symbolising his total commitment.
Moroni: Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Benjamin, in his final speech, asserts that he has always supported himself with his own hands, rather than burden the people with taxes, and that he has spent his life preventing crime and oppression. He also personally led the people in repelling a major Lamanite invasion, "with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban."

S - Z

Seers: Ammon explains to king Limhi that a "seer" is someone permitted by God to have and look into the two seer stones, which could theoretically show anything, past, present, or future — and that the reason others aren't allowed is that they might "look for that which [they] ought not" and perish.
- King Mosiah is one such seer, and uses the stones to translate the records of Ether into the Nephite language.
- Moroni later records that he plans to bury the stones with the gold plates, so that the Lord's chosen seer can translate the Book of Mormon.
Selective Obliviousness: Laman and Lemuel don't seem to understand that they should stop messing with Nephi even after an angel appears in front of them and tells them to knock it off.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
- King Noah accuses Alma of stirring up a rebellion, and sends his army to wipe out Alma's peaceful harmonious community of believers. This unprovoked aggression, coming on the heels of Abinadi's martyrdom for simply telling the king some uncomfortable truths, sets off an actual rebellion, led by Gideon, who very nearly kills the king in hand-to-hand combat before they're interrupted by a Lamanite invasion.
- Ether prophesies that if the king Coriantumr doesn't repent, then he will be the last survivor of the Jaredites. Part of the reason that Coriantumr (after beginning to come to his senses) is unable to stop the Jaredites' final battle is that his opponent has heard of the prophecy and wants to disprove it.
- Laman and Lemuel don't understand their father's visions and prophecies, so Nephi asks them whether they've asked God for help. They reply that they haven't, because "the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us." Nephi then points out that God has specifically told them that they need to ask in order to receive revelations, so their refusal to ask is a big part of the reason the Lord doesn't tell them anything. (Given that Nephi has literally just returned from asking God for an explanation of his father's visions, and being answered with an even more expansive vision of his own along with extensive commentary, his evident frustration with his brothers is understandable.)
Sequel Hook:
- Lehi prophesies that the brass plates will go to all of his descendants and never be "dimmed by time". However, by the end of the book, they are presumably buried by Mormon along with the other records he had, leaving the fulfillment of this prophecy to the future.
- More generally, many parts of the Book of Mormon are written in anticipation of the last days, when the book would be found and published.
Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle: The book's original title is The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi.^note
Show Some Leg:
- The people of Limhi, when they decide to stop running from the pursuing Lamanite army and surrender, send their daughters forward to plead their case. The Lamanites are charmed enough by "the beauty of their women" to stop attacking and listen.
- The daughter of Jared's plan to win her father the throne includes her dancing for the king's friend, Akish, at which point she's sure Akish will want to marry her and will make a deal. Exactly what kind of dance isn't clear, but it worked...
Sibling Rivalry:
- Laman and Lemuel are not happy about the Lord choosing their younger brother Nephi to rule over them. Even the fact that an angel descended from heaven to tell them so, doesn't convince them that it's for the best.
- After the chief judge Pahoran dies, three of his sons compete to inherit the position. The eldest wins the popular vote, but then the youngest rebels, and is arrested and executed for treason. The youngest brother's supporters then assassinate the eldest brother in revenge, leaving the middle brother in the judgement seat. But with all the internal struggle, they haven't maintained their defences properly, and the Lamanites come along, capture the city, and kill the judge.
The Siege:
- Once the Nephites start building serious city walls, they greatly influence warfare going forward. The first account of their effectiveness includes an invading Lamanite army being slaughtered with no Nephite casualties. However, the Lamanites do adapt, and even manage to capture a number of fortified cities, putting the Nephites on the other foot.
- Helaman's forces successfully besiege the city of Cumeni and force the Lamanites to surrender or starve. However, the results are mixed, since they end up with so many prisoners that they struggle to contain or even feed them all, and there's a mass breakout shortly afterward.
- The war with the Gadianton robbers is a particularly notable example, with the entirely of the Nephite and Lamanite population gathering to a single large fortress to fight off the robber army. When the robbers actually try to turn it into a siege, though, instead of a straight fight, their attempt to starve the Nephites out is an Epic Fail, incurring massive losses and not inconveniencing the Nephites a bit.
Silver Tongue:
- Amulon, leader of King Noah's corrupt priests. Not only does he make a successful career out of flattering both the king and nation, but when it all goes south, with the king executed and the priests banished, the Lamanites catch them living with a bunch of Lamanite girls they'd abducted and married — and Amulon not only talks his way out of trouble, but impresses the Lamanite king so much that he is appointed a ruler over the captured Nephites. Bear in mind that at this point, the Lamanites have already fought a war with the Nephites over the kidnapping, since they assumed that the Nephites were responsible. And yet, when they find the actual perpetrators, Amulon's skill with words somehow keeps him on top.
- Alma the Younger is described as having this, and in later years admits he used his gift for public speaking to convince many people to abandon their faith. After his Heel–Face Turn, he starts using those talents to preach the gospel instead.
- Several of the Anti-Christ preachers are noted be skilled with words and "much flattery," which is part of what made their teachings so persuasive and dangerous. Korihor in particular is cursed with muteness when he makes the mistake of demanding a sign from God, which the chief judge lampshades is because he's used his way with words to decieve people and lead them away from the truth.
Sins of Our Fathers: After Laman and Lemuel turn against Nephi, generations of their descendants grow up in ignorance of the gospel and hating the Nephites due to being taught they were thieves and liars. This results, among other things, in countless Lamanites being slaughtered in bloody wars by righteous Nephites who have God's protection. It is noted, however, that the Lamanites will ultimately be judged more leniently than wicked Nephites because they grew up with incorrect traditions and many never had a chance to hear the truth.
Skewed Priorities:
- Even after being miraculously protected and guided by God's power many times, Laman and Lemuel still spent more time focusing on how hard life was and complaining that they would have been better off staying in Jerusalem.
- Nehor is officially executed for murdering a man, but it's made clear that the chief judge is also not happy about how he introduced the practice of preaching for money, and the account largely focuses on the spiritual danger this poses to the people. This is later shown to be justified, however, as people following "the order of Nehor" continue to defy the laws of the land, incite rebellions or wars, and persecute believers (in defiance of laws protecting religious freedom) for decades afterward.
- Captain Moroni notices something is up when his army stops receiving supplies and reinforcements and initially assumes the chief judge has fallen into this, caring more about his position of power than the fact that the Nephites are in the middle of a war against the Lamanites. One angry letter later, he learns that it's not the chief judge who is the problem, but a group of dissenters who have decided now is a good time to overthrow the government and set up a king.
Soiled City on a Hill:
- The city of Ammonihah, after killing all the members of the church there.
- More broadly, the Jaredite and Nephite nations.
Spirit Advisor: When Nephi prays for understanding of his father's vision, the Spirit of God visits him and shows him the tree that his father saw. As the vision continues, an angel takes over the guiding/exposition duties.
Standard Hero Reward: A villainous variant. Prince Jared, after surviving his failed rebellion, hires one of the king's friends, Akish, to assassinate the king and leave the throne clear for Jared, in exchange for the hand of Jared's beautiful daughter in marriage. In this case, it was the daughter's own idea — and once she's installed as princess and married to Akish, he mysteriously decides to off king Jared next and take the throne himself, making her the queen.
The Starscream: Amalickiah deliberately arranges to be installed as second-in-command in order to have easy access for a Klingon Promotion, twice in quick succession. He talks the king of the Lamanites into appointing him over the loyalist half of the army, then makes a covert deal with the rebel leader, surrendering to the rebels and merging the army in exchange for Amalickiah becoming the army's second leader. Then he slowly poisons the leader and takes his position, before having some of his servants assassinate the king and blame it on rebels, after which he marries the queen and claims the throne.
Straight for the Commander: Captain Teancum manages to interrupt a Lamanite invasion by sneaking into their king's tent and assassinating him in his sleep. Then he wins the overall war the same way, although he's captured and killed the second time.
Succession Crisis:
- Defied by King Mosiah, after his oldest son refuses to take the crown. Rather than risk a later conflict, he persuades the people to end the monarchy and institute a form of democracy.
- Played straight after the death of chief judge Pahoran. Three of his sons compete for the job, which eventually gets them all killed, and the position reverts to the line of Alma. This despite officially being a democratically elected position.
Suffer the Slings: Used extensively by both the Nephites and Lamanites.
- After Nephi's bow breaks, he arms himself with a sling to keep hunting. However, he was apparently not very skilled with it, because he didn't manage to catch anything until he crafted a new bow.
- Ammon, on the other hand, faces an entire band of robbers, and starts cutting them down with his sling so steadily that they're provoked into all charging at him to avoid being wiped out. (It doesn't work; they all get disarmed.)
- When the Nephites test out their new fortifications at the city of Noah, the gate is guarded by men with swords and slings. It's noted that these men were elites, so the use of slings rather than bows does make sense — and it works, holding the Lamanites back without any losses.
Suicidal Pacifism: The people of Ammon, upon accepting the gospel, forsake their violent past by swearing an oath never to use violence again, and hold to it even when the unconverted Lamanites come to wipe them out. Over a thousand of them are killed, and later passages imply that some of their enemies went as far as torturing them to death in an effort to make them fight back, but they refused.
The Summation: Inverted by Nephi after the murder of the chief judge. Instead of summing up the results of an investigation, he prophetically tells everyone exactly what they'll find when they investigate. The judges want to charge him as a conspirator, but since the culprit completely admits guilt and absolves Nephi, they can't make it stick, and they walk away confused.
Symbolic Weapon Discarding: The people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, upon making an Actual Pacifist vow, gather up all their weapons and throw them into a pit, "that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day". When their enemies come to attack them anyway, their peaceful submission has such an impact that many of the attackers are upset with themselves, similarly throwing their weapons down and joining them in prayer.
Sympathy for the Hero:
- When Abinadi first turns up, preaching that the people are wicked and must repent or be punished, no one wants to hear it. But when king Noah burns Abinadi to death, one of the king's priests protests, and goes away to continue teaching Abinadi's words in secret.
- It then happens again on a larger scale when king Noah finds out, and attempts to massacre hundreds of people who were peacefully following Abinadi's teachings; they flee from the kingdom, and there's a widespread popular revolt against the king.
Take That, Critics!: In one of Nephi's prophetic visions, the Lord speaks directly to the Gentiles who reject the Book of Mormon because they already have the Bible, labelling them "fools" since the Lord speaks to all nations and additional testimonies strengthen each other.
Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one?
Tampering with Food and Drink: In response to incidents of the Nephites getting Lamanite guards drunk, enabling prisoners to escape, the Lamanites try to return the favor by slipping poisoned wine to the Nephites. It doesn't work, however, because the Nephites use Lamanite prisoners as Forced Food Tasters for anything they receive.
That Was the Last Entry: Moroni, in summarizing the book of Ether, reports that the last thing he wrote was that it didn't matter whether he died or was translated.
The Theocracy: Zig-zagged among the Nephites.
- They establish strict laws that anyone can believe as they choose, and on at least one occasion, the king refuses to judge people for religious disobedience, instead handing them over to the high priest (who settles for excommunicating those who won't repent). However, after replacing the monarchy with a system of elected judges, they not only allow but actively prefer for their secular leaders to also be religious leaders, including many instances where the same man is both the chief governor over the nation, and the high priest over the church.
- Korihor runs head-first into the dichotomy, when his anti-Christ preaching results in him being seized by a crowd and brought before a priest, sent away as he isn't guilty of breaking any law, starting to preach again elsewhere, being brought before another priest and the local governor, then sent away again to the high priest and chief governor — who don't charge him with any crime, but the high priest pronounces a divine curse upon him for leading the people astray, rendering him mute.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Anti-Nephi-Lehites, repentant Lamanites, take up an oath to never go to war or kill again, burying their weapons in the ground. They hold to this so strongly that when assaulted by other Lamanites they are willingly cut down; that dedication impresses the Lamanite army so much that they stop attacking and many even join with them. Eventually the Lamanites come back for round 2, and it's implied that they went so far as to torture some of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies to death, without being able to provoke them into striking back.
Time Skip: After detailing the beginning of his family's journey out of Jerusalem, and their several trips back to close out some business, Nephi then simply says that they spent eight years travelling eastward before reaching the sea shore. It's later mentioned that several children were born during that time.
Turn the Other Cheek / Honor Before Reason: The Anti-Nephi-Lehites prefer to be killed rather than defend themselves. Also counts as an entire people of Badass Pacifist.
To Win Without Fighting: Chief Captain Moroni arranges on several occasions to outnumber and outmaneuver the Lamanites so effectively that they surrender rather than fighting.
- He approaches a city where Nephite prisoners are held, and contrives to get the guards blackout drunk, then arms all the prisoners, then has his armies surround the guards. When they wake up (presumably with hangovers) and find themselves completely outmatched, they're quick to throw down their weapons.
- It takes several attempts, but he's able to persuade Zerahemnah's armies that they stand no chance and need to give up. Once Moroni has them surrounded, he tries to talk Zerahemnah down, offering freedom if they vow not to come back, but Zerahemnah rejects the offer and attacks him personally — and is promptly stopped and humiliated by Moroni's guards, after which many of the Lamanites take the deal. Zerahemnah is angry, and calls for the remainder to resume battle, but they start dying so fast that he reconsiders his position and asks for the chance to take the vow, which Moroni gives him.
  Moroni: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.
- By the end of the war, Moroni has such a reputation that the Lamanites just abandon the cities they've captured and run away from his approaching armies, until they're cornered.
Unable to Retreat: On multiple occasions, the Nephites manage to surround a Lamanite army — which works, but tends to provoke the Lamanites into desperate berserk offensives, making such victories quite costly.
- Moroni splits and conceals his army as the Lamanites approach Zarahemla, resulting in the Lamanites encountering one band after another until they're entirely surrounded. The result of their repeated failures to retreat is that they're thoroughly panicked, which is mixed; the cornered Lamanites attack in such a frenzy that they manage to break through Nephite shields and armour, but once that desperate charge loses momentum, many of them surrender.
- Coriantumr's invasion causes a lot of casualties, because he surprises the Nephites by heading straight to the understaffed capital instead of attacking the border cities. However, once the Nephite general realizes what's happening, he's able to bring in the armies stationed at the borders and entirely surround Coriantumr, resulting in "an exceedingly bloody battle" with eventual Nephite victory.
  And now, behold, the Lamanites could not retreat either way, neither on the north, nor on the south, nor on the east, nor on the west, for they were surrounded on every hand by the Nephites.
- Gidgiddoni has more success in cutting off the retreat of the Gadianton robbers, who were already demoralized and starving from their failed siege.
  And now, Gidgiddoni being aware of their design, and knowing of their weakness because of the want of food, and the great slaughter which had been made among them, therefore he did send out his armies in the night-time, and did cut off the way of their retreat, and did place his armies in the way of their retreat. And this did they do in the night-time, and got on their march beyond the robbers, so that on the morrow, when the robbers began their march, they were met by the armies of the Nephites both in their front and in their rear. And the robbers who were on the south were also cut off in their places of retreat. And all these things were done by command of Gidgiddoni. And there were many thousands who did yield themselves up prisoners unto the Nephites, and the remainder of them were slain.
Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking...: Inverted. Several prophets, notably Moroni, felt quite confident in their ability to speak well, but then they were given the task of writing, which didn't come to them so easily.
Understatement: In just a few sentences, Nephi states that his family travelled for eight years and "did wade through much affliction in the wilderness". He's not kidding. Plotting out their course from Jerusalem reveals that they were cutting across Arabia, through one of the worst deserts in the world, the "Empty Quarter". Eight years in that terrain is no joke.
The Unnamed:
- Mormon states that God told him not to write the names of the Three Nephites. That said, he did record the names of all twelve disciples; he just didn't say which three of them it was.
- Nephi never names his sisters or any of the daughters of Ishmael, including his wife.^note In fact the only wife of a prophet named in the book is Sarah, the wife of Lehi and mother of Nephi. This despite the fact that most of the prophets have sons.
- The prophet Helaman, while serving as the chief judge, has a servant who goes undercover to infiltrate the first secret society, coming to a head when he foils an assassination attempt by escorting the assassin toward the judgement seat and stabbing him on the way. We never learn the servant's name.
Unwanted False Faith: After he kills or maims an entire robber warband singlehandedly to protect a flock of sheep, Ammon has to explain to the Lamanite king that he isn't the "Great Spirit". Since he is a missionary being protected by Divine Intervention, this may overlap with Stop Worshipping Me!.
Villainous Breakdown: Amalickiah loses it after his initial attacks against the city of Ammonihah and Noah utterly fail thanks to Moroni's spending the past four years building up the cities' defenses.
Villainous BSoD: Five men are sent to check whether Nephi's prediction of the chief judge's murder is true, though they don't expect it to be. When they find the judge dead, they are so shocked, and so scared that Nephi's words about the wickedness of the people and coming judgements might also be true, that they all collapse to the ground.
Villainous Vow:
- There are stories of "secret combinations" (i.e. conspiracies) and the book warns against them. Often overlapping with Deal with the Devil. Cain is said to have started them. It warns that they are found among every civilization, even in the modern era. Probably a reference that includes government and business corruption, and organized crime, especially since they went as far as having their own laws that they judged their members by. Typically their first vow was to keep the conspiracy secret, such as Akish's combination agreeing that anyone who revealed it would lose his head.
- Also, after an embarrassing defeat, Amalickiah vows to drink Captain Moroni's blood.
Violence Is the Only Option: After repeated attempts to obtain the Brass Plates by other means, Nephi kills Laban because he was specifically told by God to do it. As in, God had to go out of His way specifically to persuade Nephi that killing Laban is the only reasonable option left. Made even more notable by the fact that is the one time Nephi flat-out argued with God over a course of action. He really didn't want to kill Laban.
War for Fun and Profit:
- When Zeniff goes back to the land of Nephi, the king of the Lamanites agrees to let his people stay in hopes of exploiting them. When their numbers increase, he starts to become worried and goes out to start conquering and enslaving them.
- Amalickiah tries to become the king of the Nephites, but when that plan is shot down, he goes to plan B: becoming the king of the Lamanites and conquering the Nephites by force.
War Is Hell: And there's the results of them.
- After the major battle between the Nephites and Lamanites in the Book of Alma, some men grew bitter due to the result of it.
- It gets worse in the final wars of the Nephites and Jaredites. From battlefields full of corpses that no-one takes the time to bury because they're too busy fighting the next one, to the rape, torture, murder and cannibalism of young female captives. Mormon, in lamenting the situation to his son, declares that he can't pray for his own people anymore, and is instead praying for God to wipe them out.
We Can Rule Together: Giddianhi invites the combined Nephites and Lamanites to join his oath-bound robbers as full partners. It wouldn't have been a good deal, though; there would have been no one left to plunder, and the robbers had already shown a willingness to turn on each other if it seemed profitable.
Where Is Your X Now?: After arranging for all believers in the city to be exiled or burned, the ruler of Ammonihah challenges Alma and Amulek in this fashion, declaring that they didn't have the power to save anyone, and God didn't save them either. After he brings in a bunch of friends and associates to join in the mockery, an earthquake brings down the building on their heads, leaving only Alma and Amulek alive.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Nine of the twelve Nephite disciples decide their highest wish is to die once their service is over and go to heaven. The remaining three receive the promise that they will live until Christ's second coming, in order for them to be perpetual missionaries. Their story includes a Shout-Out to John the Revelator.
Whole Episode Flashback: The book of Ether, occurring thousands of years prior to 'current' events.
Work Info Title: Most of the contents are organized into books that are simply named after their individual authors; the first book of Nephi, the second book of Nephi, etc. The book as a whole is "the book of Mormon" because he compiled it.
The World Is Not Ready: The brother of Jared apparently saw the whole history of the world in vision, and left a record of it. However, Moroni later records that God forbade him to write it on the gold plates, because the world wouldn't be ready for the knowledge at first.
Would Hurt a Child: Several villainous individuals or civilisations qualify. Note that most of them are killed shortly afterward.
- The people of Ammonihah, after rejecting Alma and Amulek's preaching, burn the families of anyone who believes in God. The whole city is put to the sword by the Lamanites a short time later.
- The Jaredites arm everyone, including women and children, for their final battle. (Since one of the armies had a reputation for slaughtering the women and children in cities they captured, there wasn't really anything to lose...) After a few days of fighting, only a few adult men are left, marking the end of their nation even before those few finish killing each other.
- In Mormon's day, the Lamanites feed captured children nothing except meat from their own fathers. It's telling that they still won the war; by that point, the Nephites were even worse.
You Can't Fight Fate: Several people attempt to avoid their demise once their death is told to them by a prophet. Of interest is the fact that all those who tried to fight fate were clearly told what to do to avoid their destruction, but were unable to follow those instructions, mostly because of their own pride and desire to live their lives their own way. A few, once they saw the wrongness of their ways, tried to turn back, but by then, it was too late. So, in a real sense, they brought their own destruction upon them. The lesson here is Listen to God's advice before it's too late.
- King Noah attempts to escape with his life along with a few other men, and tells them to abandon their families. They become angry and burn him as foretold by Abinadi.
- Coriantumr, last king of the Jaredites, is warned by the prophet to repent or else Coriantumr will be the last survivor of his people, but he initially doesn't listen. Eventually, as the war progresses, he starts to come to his senses and tries to stop the conflict — but his opponent has heard about the prophecy and wants to prove it wrong by killing him, so the fight continues, with Coriantumr's supporters and enemies killing each other until only Coriantumr is left.
You Can't Go Home Again: Once Lehi's family has spent eight years crossing the Arabian desert, even Laman and Lemuel have stopped asking to go back to Jerusalem. They keep complaining about ever having left, mind you, but there's no suggestion of turning back now. Then they cross the ocean to a new continent.
You Have Failed Me: As soon as the flocks of King Lamoni are scattered by robbers, all the servants except Ammon panic and lament their fate, because the king has executed a string of previous shepherds for allowing that to happen. Ammon sets out to recover the flocks by whatever means are necessary (and ends up disarming most of the robbers), in order to avoid it.
Youngest Child Wins:
- Nephi is the youngest of four brothers when Lehi leaves Jerusalem, but is chosen by the Lord to be a ruler and teacher to his rebellious older brothers. Note that the third brother, Sam, listened to Nephi and was righteous, but Nephi was still the star.
- The Jaredites developed an unusual system of passing down the kingdom to the youngest son of the king, after their first attempt to crown a king resulted in all the older brothers refusing it. Unfortunately, this led to many conflicts, when an adult son had a strong interest in preventing his father from having any more children.

I, a troper, having been referred by goodly websites, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the markup of my father; and having seen many walls of text in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored by the admins in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the tropes and popular media, therefore I make a wiki of my proceedings in my days.

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
(aka: The Book Of Mormon)

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"And it came to pass that this page would list the examples thus:"

Alternative Title(s): Book Of Mormon, The Book Of Mormon

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Literature / The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (aka: The Book Of Mormon) 4 Following

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"And it came to pass that this page would list the examples thus:"

Alternative Title(s): Book Of Mormon, The Book Of Mormon

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The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
(aka: The Book Of Mormon)

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