Teancum is among those uncommon figures in the scriptures who is good throughout his but who meets his end due to something that many would view as a character flaw. This can lead is to overlook or justify the flaw (i.e. there was nothing wrong him trying to assassinate Ammoron). It might lead is to write off his whole example as being flawed (i.e. just because he was a good soldier doesn’t mean he was actually a good man). The best thing we can do in my opinion is to acknowledge the whole example: Teancum was a good man and a good soldier – a man for to the needs of his day – but like all of us he was imperfect. Sometimes he acted on impulse – such as when he went in anger to assassinate Ammoron – and a life of goodness didn’t protect him from the consequences of that action.
On the whole, Teancum was like Lehi; he was one of those generals that Moroni could count on implicitly to tackle any assignment.
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