A couple of things stood out to me.
Limhi began his reign at a perilous time for his people and had no choice but to accept a terrible situation. He accepted the terms of 50% tribute to the Lamanites because he knew there was no other option. In our day many (possibly even a majority) would blame him for their tough economic reality despite the fact that he obviously had no other option.
Limhi chose to act mercifully when the king of the Lamanites fell into his hands by talking to him to understand why they had attacked. He did this despite his people wanting to simply kill the king in retaliation. In so doing, Limhi likely saved them all from slaughter. If they had killed the king the landlord would have slaughtered them without them even finding out why they were being attacked. Instead, Limhi learned what the Lamanites believed. I’m confident that his mercy helped convince the Lamanite king to believe the explanation he then offered. I’m also confident that sparing their king and seeing that he was free among them and that he believed their explanation helped the Lamanites to accept the explanation of what caused the misunderstanding that motivated their attack.
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