Captain Moronihah

One of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon is the story of Captain Moronihah. His father, Chief Captain Moroni, made his mark as one of the greatest Nephite Generals of all time. He saved the Nephite nation many times, from treacherous rebellion within and from vast armies of marauding conquerors without. He was a giant of a man- but, giants cast long shadows.




















When he retired, Moroni appointed his son Moronihah as Chief Captain. Although he had some success, soon the country faced even greater peril than before. Lamanite conquerors took the capital city of Zarahemlah. People lost their homes, thousands of men died, and the Lamanites took over half of the Nephite Lands. Moronihah had failed. He had failed his father, his people, and himself. But despite all this, he was still his father's son. Moronihah did not give up. He taught his men to live righteously, to gain the favor of God. Only when he felt his men were spiritually prepared would he advance. Many cities were regained- but they were unable to maintain more than half of the land. The Lamanites were strong- but the faith of Moronihah and the Nephite army was stronger. They prayed for a miracle.

If you're interested to know what happened next, you can read Helaman 3-5 for yourself. It tells the story much better than I can. I know, I know, cliffhanger. But seriously, it's a great story.






















As for the art this week, the top two are pictures of a maquette, or model, of Captain Moronihah that I made out of tagboard, a tennis ball, a clothes-hanger, and a spaghetti strainer (mixed media, lol). Often in animation maquettes are created to help the artist draw a character from many different angles.

The third picture is a pencil design I did for an animation class of Captain Moronihah. I hope at some point to ad inks and colors.