Are There Any Other Cultures That Match the Jaredites?

            In a previous chapter, I discussed how strange it is to us that the Jaredites would go to war, then the winner would put the loser into captivity.  There is further discussion on this captivity not being prison, as they have children, even many children, so they likely have multiple wives, indicating they are still living as royalty.

            For this chapter, to initiate an understanding of cultures like the Jaredites, I want to consider two things that might be familiar to most of us.  These items are the game of chess and the 1998 animated Disney® movie Mulan.  If you haven’t seen that movie, you might want to watch it.  Even though there is much of Hollywood in the film, many intriguing pieces from the movie are part of the ancient Oriental cultures and match the story of the Jaredites.  We can use the cultural norms of these two things to understand the Jaredites better.

Chess 

            Let’s start with the game of chess.  In chess everything is done to protect the king, and when the king is killed or captured, the game (war) is over. 

      This chess scenario played out for me once in high school.  I had a math teacher that was a chess master.  I was reasonably good at chess and accepted when he challenged me to a game.  Because he was so good, his goal was not only to win, but to take every piece I had before putting my king into checkmate.

      He had me down to one pawn and my king, and I had only taken about half of his pieces.  But in his effort to take all my pieces, he hadn’t noticed that I had cornered his king.  I put him into checkmate with my king and the one pawn and won the game.  That was humiliating to him since it was his first loss to a high school student.  (I never played him again, even at his pleading, so I could always remain the champion.)

      This same event can be seen repeatedly playing out in the book of Ether.  It doesn’t matter how many soldiers an army has; if they kill or capture the king, they have won.  And it doesn’t matter whether the leader is killed or captured.  It also doesn’t matter whether the leader is deposed by a battle between armies or whether the leader is removed by a coup by what could be considered a commando squad.  In all cases, the goal is the same; to control the leader.

            Understanding the history of chess can give us insight into a culture or cultures that are similar to the Jaredites.

Figure 2: The Game of Chess

Chess History

            According to Murray, Chess seems to have either been invented in India and spread to China or was invented in China and spread to India [4].  Murray leans to India as being the place it was created.  There are many legends about it, and we will explore one later.  Either way, it appears to have had its roots in Asia.  Some scholars feel chess, or some variant of it, was invented as early as 455 BC.  It may have gone through some iterations, but most scholars think that by 800 A.D., the game was well known in a form close to what is familiar to us today.  That would mean that when Joseph Smith started his work in the 19^th century, the game of chess was probably quite familiar to many.  However, it was not as common in the United States as in other countries.

            Murray says that chess was modeled after the way of fighting in the Orient [4].  The war could end with the killing or capturing of one of the kings, or the destruction of one king’s army, so he was left helpless.  In the case of the king being killed or captured, his army would then fade away.

            Murray states that there are many versions of chess, and many Oriental countries have developed their own variation.  I, myself, played one of these.  The main thing I remember about this game was that instead of each piece being able to capture the king, the only piece in that game that could was the one that would be equivalent to our pawn.  The other pieces could take everything else, but only the pawn could capture the king.  My strategy had previously always been to willingly sacrifice the pawns for the sake of winning, but in this game, if you lost all your pawns, you couldn’t win.  And if both players lost all their pawns, the game was a draw because the king could not be killed or captured.  I admit, I lost every game of that form of chess that I played.

            This different game raised another question or idea for me.  Can only certain people kill or capture the king for it to effectively end the war?  References about war between Oriental leaders usually say that one leader defeated the other in battle and slew him.  This could mean one army won, then the king of the winning side was given the right to slay or put into captivity the opposing king.  When Coriantumr was willing to give the kingdom to Shiz if Shiz would spare the people, Shiz agreed as long as Coriantumr would give himself up so Shiz himself could slay him with his own sword (Ether 15: 4-5).

            According to Nibley, the ancient battles were often a chivalric competition between the two kings [5].  They had to be last to fall.  He says that the king would be pressed until they could not move, and as has been previously mentioned, there appears to be a preference to capture the opposing king instead of killing him.

            The game of chess ends with the phrase, “checkmate.”  When I was young, I used to think that phrase was English, and when I said to my opponent, “check, mate,” I tried to use my best English accent.  However, Murray says that “checkmate” comes from “shah – māt.”  A shaw is a king, and “māt” is Persian and means helpless or defeated [4].  So, the phrase is saying to your opponent, “Your king is helpless or defeated.”  It is not saying he is to be killed.

            Murray claims that the core concept of the six main variations of chess are all the same.  Even the pieces are set in the same basic pattern with the king in the center, rooks in corners, knights next to rooks, and bishops next to knights.  All have pawns in the front, and all games end with checkmate.

            So, why is the history of chess so important here?  The answer is that since the game of chess aligns so closely with the wars in the book of Ether, military ideas quite different from our western ones, there is likely a connection between these two cultures.  Could the Jaredites and the cultures of the Orient come from the same roots?  By studying the cultures of the Orient, we can gain some possible understanding of the Jaredites.

Disney® Movie Mulan

            In the 1996 Disney® movie Mulan, many things are similar to the book of Ether.  One of the most important is a statement made near the beginning of the movie that most people miss.  In my seminars, I ask the participants what the second scene in the movie is.  If you have seen the movie, pause for a moment from reading, and see if you can name it.  Have you paused?  I will give the answer a little later so you can see if you are right.  But right now, let’s consider the legend that Mulan comes from. 

According to ancient Chinese legend, Hua Mulan was a warrior woman [6][WL].  I think the first time I came across this legend and story was while I was studying the history of mathematics.  In particular, I was looking at the growth of math in China and other parts of the Orient.  It is hard to read too much about China without coming across the legend of Mulan.  The Chinese feel she was a real person and a great hero to her country.  The stories of Mulan are often in poetic form and include ballads and theatrical works.  Figure 3 shows a statue built in her honor.

Figure 3: Hua Mulan

            There are a few things that are key in all the different versions of the stories I have read.  First, Mulan entered the army in place of her aging father, whom she loved, knowing he could not endure the viciousness of war.  Second, she always seems to have hidden the fact that she was a woman until later in the story, and when it did come out, that inspired her people.  Third, there is usually a love interest in the form of a military commander.  And fourth, she doesn’t seek for riches from her fame and power, but only to do good for her people and her family.

            Let’s go back to the movie version by Disney®.  Let’s lay out the key concepts it shows us.  To keep these concepts separate and distinct, I will number them.

Mulan Concept 1

Protect the King at all Costs

            Do you remember what the second scene was?  Most of those attending the Education Week class guessed the scene where Mulan is feeding the chickens, but that is scene three.  Some even guessed the scene where Mulan is going to the matchmaker, but that is even later.  Let’s start with scene one.  Scene one is when Shan Yu’s army comes up on the Great Wall of China, and the fires are lit to tell China he is there. 

            So, what is scene two?  In scene two, General Li goes into the emperor’s palace and informs the emperor that Shan Yu’s army has crossed the border.  Then the general says he will set up a perimeter around the palace to protect the emperor.  The emperor, in his goodness, tells the general to protect the people.

            Did you catch what General Li was saying?  Everything was about protecting the emperor.  This is the idea of the game of chess.  Everything is set up to protect the king.  It was as if the ordinary people were an insignificant detail.  But in the movie, the emperor’s benevolence shows in his desire to protect his people, even over his own safety.  Even so, we see the concept of chess in that scene, to protect the emperor at all costs, even over the common people’s lives.

  Mulan Concept 2

It Doesn’t Take a Whole Army to Win

            Another event of interest to us occurs later in the movie.  When Mulan drops the avalanche on the Hun army, only four survive.  You might think, okay, Mulan is a hero; she goes home, roll the credits, end of the movie, we are happy, we feast.  But that is not the case.  The four, one of whom is Shan Yu, go into the city to finish their job.  All they have to do is kill or capture the emperor to win, and they don’t need an entire army to do that.  What you see at that point is the idea of a commando unit capturing the emperor or killing him.

Mulan Concept 3

Control of the Emperor is Control of China

            You may note that once Shan Yu gets the emperor on the balcony in front of all the people, he then tells the emperor to bow to him, claiming the emperor’s walls and cities have fallen to Shan Yu.  To us, this may seem like someone who has lost his grip on reality.  He is in the midst of a huge city, surrounded by thousands, if not millions, of people.  Just below the balcony on which he stands is the emperor’s army.  This does not sound to us like what he describes, fallen walls and cities.  But to Shan Yu, with the emperor standing before him as a prisoner, the statement is very real.  If Shan Yu controls the emperor, he controls China.

Mulan Concept 4

Bow in Captivity or Die

            Shan Yu, holding the emperor as his prisoner, now commands the emperor to bow to him.  Every indication is that if the emperor bows, his life will be spared, and he will be Shan Yu’s captive.  In this situation, if the emperor does bow and is put in captivity, the people will submit to the authority of Shan Yu.

            However, the emperor refuses to bow.  It is at this point that Shan Yu is going to kill the emperor.  Through the movie, Shan Yu shows total disregard for the lives of soldiers and ordinary people.  But when it comes to the emperor’s life, Shan Yu is willing to spare his life and take him captive if the emperor will bow.  It is only when the emperor will not bow that Shan Yu chooses to take his life.  (Spoiler alert for those who haven’t seen the movie.  Mulan helps save the emperor.  I just saved you eight dollars having to see the movie at the movie theater.)

            This shows Shan Yu’s desire to have the emperor as a captive over killing him.  This is very much like the book of Ether, where the Jaredite kings tend to spare the life of the enemy leader, but not the lives of other people.  Remember in Ether 8, King Jared’s army is destroyed but his life is spared. 

Summary of Mulan Movie and Culture Matching the Jaredites

.           Though there is much of Hollywood in the movie Mulan, in many respects it holds true to the traditional story of Mulan found in books.  In that movie, we can see the very essence of the culture of the Jaredites.  First, everything is done to protect the king.  His is the only life that seems to be of much value.  Second, it does not take an entire army to win—a commando squad can win if they can kill or capture the king.  Third, control of the king is control of the nation, whether he is dead or alive.  And fourth, it is preferable to capture the king and keep him in captivity instead of killing him.

            There is much to discuss in these cultural ideas that may seem strange to us.  We will return to them in other discussions.

Bibliography

[4]          H. Murray, A Brief History of Chess. New York and Tokyo: Ishi Press, 2015.

[5]          H. Nibley, “The World of the Jaredites,” in The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley Volume 5, Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1988, pp. 153–282.

[6]          N. Klimczak, “The Dramatic True Story Behind Disney’s Mulan,” 2020. https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/ballad-hua-mulan-legendary-warrior-woman-who-brought-hope-china-005084 (accessed Nov. 23, 2022).