“Ought to Destroy Coriantumr by Their Secret Plans of Wickedness”

When Alma₂ instructs Helaman₁ in his recordkeeping responsibilities, he specifically states that Ether’s plates should be preserved so that the Jaredite works of darkness might be known: “And now, I will speak unto you concerning those twenty–four plates, that ye keep them, that the mysteries and the works of darkness, and their secret works, or the secret works of those people who have been destroyed, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, all their murders, and robbings, and their plunderings, and all their wickedness and abominations, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, and that ye preserve these interpreters” (Alma 37:21). In Moroni’s retelling, “secret plans of wickedness” are a recurring theme that underlies the destruction of the government. Moroni is exposing those secret works—not their content (Ether 8:20) but their results (Ether 8:21). This great final Jaredite war, like the final Nephite war, begins with secret combinations.