While Moroni is quite willing to leave out an account of Genesis that might be interesting to modern scholars, he intentionally includes a very long genealogy. This is part of the verification of the record. When Nephi begins his record, he does so with “I Nephi…” (Nephi 1:1). Moroni begins this record of Ether with the indication that the writer is “I, Moroni…” (Ether 1:1). Part of what gives meaning to a record is the witness of the one who writes it. In this case, it is Ether, who is a descendant of Coriantor. Tying Ether into this lineage links Ether to the original progenitor, Jared.
Nibley tells us that we should be cautious about being too dogmatic about the chronology implicit in the genealogical list. (Hugh Nibley. Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites. Bookcraft, 1952, p. 148). While most of the list has “son of” links, the link from Ether to Coriantor is “descendant of,” a phrase that also appears in verses 16 and 23). Nevertheless, as the textual explanation of the genealogy continues, we find Ether as the “son of” Coriantor (Ehter 11:23) and Aaron as the “son of” Heth (Ether 10:31). The relationship of Morianton and Riplakish, however, remains as one of descendant (Ether 1:23 and Ether 10:9).
It is therefore impossible to tell whether this switching of terms is significant or simply given for variety with no intended meaning. The most generous reading would be that this really is a strict genealogy and that the variation is simply give to break up the repetition of “son of.” However, in the Mesoamerican context we must consider another alternative.
In Mesoamerica, it is not uncommon for rulers to attempt to establish their own dynasty by reference to a connection to early progenitors. There are genealogies typing current rulers to the distant past, and there are long specific king lists. Both of these types show evidence of some invention in their recording. In Naranjo:
“The first enthronement recorded… was not that of a mortal king, but of the kingdom’s founding god, a character dubbed (a little inelegantly) the ‘Square-nosed Beastie.’ Our two sources for this event disagree on exactly how long ago this took place 9one offers a date some 22,000 years in the past, the other surpasses 896,000!) but in both the intention was to place it deep in mythological time, perhaps as a part of a cyclical history.” (Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 70).
An example of the problematic nature of genealogies in Mesoamerica comes from Calakmul:
“We do have a lengthy king list that traces it s royal line back to a ‘founder,’ but in many ways this document poses more questions than it answers. No fewer than 11 painted vases carry varying lengths of the same sequence, the longest charting the inaugurations of 19 kings, beginning with ‘Skyraiser’. Unfortunately, their Calendar Round dates have no anchor in the Long Count and cannot be fixed in time. More problematically, while several names are familiar from monumental inscriptions, they do not follow the same order and their accession dates differ from their carved counterparts in all cases. Several important early kings are also missing from the list. Whether fact or fabrication, we seem to have a line reaching deep into an ancestral past.” (Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 102).
The nebulous connection between Ether and this genealogical line suggests that we may be seeing the same kind of link between the modern person of importance and the revered past. In spite of what the real history might have been, it was certainly accepted by Ether, and very clearly this list serves as the skeleton under his historical narrative. However, we must remember that our original author is Ether, not Jared or the brother of Jared. Therefore it is to be expected that if this is the extant chronology, it is the one that Ether would use to develop his narrative history.