With a simple sentence, Ammon completely reverses his situation among the Lamanites. In modern terms, the scenario is improbable. Ammon has come armed, though alone, among a foreign and hostile people, is captured and bound, undergoes ritual humiliation, and is carried before the king. Given the Maya model, he could be held indefinitely in prison with periodic bouts of public torture. It is not an attractive future, but Ammon says that he wants to live among the Lamanites. The king promptly releases him and offers to let him marry a daughter.
Although outlandish in modern terms, in a kin-based society like that in the Book of Mormon, a marriage like the one that Lamoni offers would create nearly unbreakable links between families. As Lamoni would see the situation, Ammon has come voluntarily, submitted to captivity, and announces his desire to become a Lamanite. Thus, there is little political and religious significance in his death or captive-torture (assuming that his identity as Mosiah’s son remains unknown). Could he be a Nephite spy, forerunner of an invading army? How can the king be sure? Killing him would achieve very little but to eliminate his ability to return to a putative army. Letting him live opens the possibility of future trouble. Lamoni’s solution is to allow the stranger to live but bind him morally and legally to the Lamanites by a state marriage into the royal family. Such a marriage would realign Ammon’s allegiance to Lamoni himself and the Lamanite polity—and, not incidentally, keep him nearby where Lamoni can observe him constantly. The king’s proposal changes Ammon’s status from uncontrollable and dangerous outsider to one of controllable and affiliated insider.