Having remembered Ether’s prophecy, Coriantumr now sees that the end of the current situation is doomed to a total destruction of his people. He therefore attempts to call of the wars. He suggests to Shiz that he, Coriantumr, will give up the kingdom to Shiz for the sake of the lives of the people. At this point, Coriantumr is still under the impression that this war is politically motivated. While there may be some politics involved, that is not the only issue, and it is the blood feud declared by Shiz that will be the more important reason for the battle.
Redaction: There is no indication of how Ether would have known of this letter. Either Ether hears of it from gossip, or it is a literary invention.
“He Began to Remember the Words Which Ether Had Spoken Unto Him”
Finally, at the end of so much loss of life, Coriantumr finally remembers the words of Ether. At this point we have the information that there were nearly two million dead. This is a count that includes men, women and children. Certainly there was a tremendous loss of life, but the number itself must be considered a collective number rather than a count. There was simply no way to count the dead, particularly given the moving nature of the battles. While we may easily understand that the devastation was tremendous, and the loss of life greater than any had ever seen before, it was nevertheless impossible to count, and therefore the idea that there had been two million slain must be a collective number, and probably an exaggeration to indicate an extremely large number. It could not have been a count, or even an estimated count.