The Nephites stereotyped the Lamanites. In spite of the fact that the term Lamanite had become a generic term for all non-Nephites (see Jacob 1:13–14), the stereotypes were applied to all. When the people of Zeniff returned to the land of Nephi, they could speak the language, suggesting that there were many previous Nephites who remained and became Lamanites by switching allegiance. The newly entered rulers were Lamanites by Jacob’s definition of those who “seek to destroy the people of Nephi,” but it is unknown how they might have been related to Laman or Lemuel.
Nevertheless, the description of Lamanites as wild and ferocious occurs in Enos 1:20, here in Mosiah 10:12, later in Mosiah 17:17, Alma 17:14, and Helaman 3:6. Zeniff had called them lazy in Mosiah 9:12, and Mormon will later call them indolent in Alma 37:36. This stereotyping leads directly to the imputation of the motives for the Lamanite hatred. They were wronged in the Old World wilderness and while crossing the sea. They rejected Nephi. In Zeniff’s writing, the events of the beginnings of the Nephites continued to fuel Lamanite hatred. We will see this accusation again.
These are all Nephite descriptions and part of typical ethnocentrism, which sees one’s own people as the most important group, and outsiders only in reaction to one’s group. The Nephite records will clearly advance the Nephite perspective, and their perspective created stereotypes of lazy and blood-thirsty Lamanites that will persist through to the end of the Nephite nation.