Many scholarly studies of the Council of Fifty have tended to distort insufficient evidence and sometimes to sensationalize their interpretations. This article’s research into the documents and historical environment of the Council of Fifty requires a rewriting of these scholarly and highly popular interpretations rather than a rewriting of Mormon history in light of these previous interpretations of the Council of Fifty. The primary role of the Council of Fifty was to symbolize the other-worldly world order that would be established during the millennial reign. The secondary role involved literal, practical functions. The author divides his study of the Council of Fifty into the following: establishment, names, purposes, activity, supervision, membership, officers, legacy.