Animals often fight to extermination. The Jaredites did the same although Coriantumr offered to end the battle if Shiz and would spare the lives of the people (vv. 15–18). Without the Spirit of the Lord (v. 19), the Jaredites had become like animals. To be drunk with anger (v. 22) is to be totally in the power of Satan. Satan stirs up people to anger (see 2 Nephi 28:19–20; D&C 10:20). The gradual decline in numbers (Ether 15:23–25) shows their determination to fight to extermination. The Nephites followed the same pattern. They fought down to 24 men and the Lamanites pursued these until no more were found (Mormon 6:11; 8:2–3). Dr. Hugh Nibley has written:
The insane wars of the Jaredite chiefs ended in the complete annihilation of both sides, with the kings the last to go. The same thing had almost happened earlier in the days of Akish, when a civil war between him and his sons reduced the population to thirty (9:12). This all seems improbable to us, but two circumstances peculiar to Asiatic warfare explain why the phenomenon is by no means without parallel: (1) Since war is strictly a personal contest between kings, the battle must continue until one of the kings falls or is taken. (2) And yet things are so arranged that the king must be very last to fall, the whole army existing for the sole purpose of defending his person. This is clearly seen in the game of chess, in which all pieces are expendable except the king, who can never be taken.