Redaction: Mormon does not identify his source for this description of Moroni, but I read it as Mormon’s personal appraisal from the evidence before him and his feelings for the man. Mormon’s source may well include descriptions of Moroni’s physical prowess and his creativity. Evidence of Moroni’s longing for freedom for his people is certainly part of the source, because Mormon has given us at least some of that material in the discussion of the title of liberty. But his conclusion that Moroni “was a man of a perfect understanding” must be drawn from source material that he did not include in his abridgment.
As this passage clarifies, however, Mormon had been studying his sources for a long time before beginning to write. He had obviously developed a tremendous respect for Moroni and honored the man by giving his own son Moroni’s name.