The book Words of Mormon was written by Mormon near the end of Nephite history. As he composed his last contribution to the Nephite records, “Mormon was ‘rent with anguish’ (Morm. 6:16) as he [had] watched the demise of civilization in his part of the world. ‘O ye fair ones,’ he cried in a highly poetic and agonized lament over the needless destruction of a once faithful and blessed people (Morm. 6:17). In the end, even Mormon was a victim of the mindless slaughter, as his son Moroni recorded (Morm. 8:3)” (Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 548).