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Varg Vikernes
Born	February 11, 1973 (1973-02-11) (age 34) Bergen, Norway
Charge(s)	Murder, Arson
Penalty	21 years
Status	in custody at a maximum-security prison in Tromsø
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Writer
Spouse	none

Varg Vikernes^[1] IPA: [varg 'vi:keɳes], born Kristian Vikernes on February 11, 1973, outside of Bergen, Norway, is a black metal musician. Known during the early days of Norwegian black metal by the stage name Count Grishnackh (a reference to an Orc chieftain in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings), Vikernes conceived the one-man music project Burzum, and later became a prominent voice for the heathen Odalist ideology.

Vikernes is currently serving a 21 year sentence for the 1993 murder of Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth of Mayhem. He is seeking parole in April 2008 after having been denied in 2006. Additionally, having been attached to a conspiracy of church arsons in Europe, filmmaker Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey) has described Vikernes as "the most notorious metal musician of all time"^[2].

Contents 1 Burzum 2 Criminal Record 2.1 Murder of Øystein Aarseth 2.2 Arson of churches 3 Escape attempt and expected release 4 Vikernes' thoughts 4.1 Political affiliation 4.2 Influences by Vidkun Quisling? 4.3 Religion 4.4 The Lord of the Rings 5 Publicity 6 Related News 7 Notes 8 References 9 Documentation 10 External links

Main article: Burzum

Burzum began in 1991 as a prominent and influential Norwegian black metal solo project of Vikernes'. Originally, he used the pseudonym Count Grishnackh. Burzum was instrumental in the crystallisation of early black metal. A total of six albums were released between 1992 and 1999.

In 2000, Vikernes terminated his musical project (which he had continued from his prison cell) due to what he perceived to be negative notoriety. Vikernes believed that his philosophy was constantly misinterpreted by an ignorant fan base that was too closely related to black metal and Satanism. By this time, Vikernes had released two ambient albums, having abandoned the black metal 'scene' years previous. Varg intends to continue Burzum upon his release from prison. The new Burzum, Vikernes claims, will be a continuation of pre-prison Burzum, specifically the album Filosofem. Through a recent article, he has indicated this about the revival of Burzum after his release from the prison:

I will publish a few books, possibly using a pseudonym in order to stay anonymous, and perhaps a Burzum album or two, but that's it.'^[3]

On Burzum.org, Varg also states that if he releases a new album, it will probably sound just like the old ones, as black metal is "the only music he can write".

Vikernes stated he is against all Burzum websites except for his official site. "The only website I support (in this context) is www.burzum.org"^[4]

Vikernes is currently incarcerated because of his 1993 conviction for the murder of his former associate Øystein Aarseth (also known as Euronymous from the Black Metal band Mayhem). Vikernes was additionally found guilty in several cases of arson, one of which included Jørn Tunsberg of black metal band Hades Almighty. He received the maximum sentence in Norway of 21 years in prison, which was shortened but then restored following an escape attempt in 2003.^[5] During his time in prison, he has recorded two albums (Dauði Baldrs and Hliðskjálf), which are composed of dark ambient tracks rather than black metal. His request for parole was denied in June 2006.^[6] Currently, he is serving time at Tromsø Prison in Norway.

The circumstances surrounding the reason for the murder are not entirely clear, but have been mainly attributed to ideological differences and a power struggle between Vikernes and Aarseth. An alleged financial dispute over the profits from Burzum's records (Burzum and Aske) released through Aarseth's record label (Deathlike Silence Productions) may have also escalated their conflict. Vikernes himself has claimed that Aarseth plotted to kill him and that the murder was committed in self-defense the night of what would be their last visit. Aarseth was found dead outside his apartment in Oslo with twenty-three wounds^[7] — two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back.^{[citation needed]}. Vikernes claims that the majority of those wounds were received when Aarseth fell on pieces of a lamp that was broken in the struggle. While he still claims that it was an act of self-defence, Vikernes describes the fight with Aarseth in detail on his homepage.^[8]

During the murder case, the 22-year-old Snorre Ruch (of the band Thorns), who drove Vikernes to and from Øystein's apartment and stood outside during the murder, was put on trial together with Varg Vikernes and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment, although he did not physically assist Vikernes in the murder.

On June 6, 1992, the Fantoft stave church, one of Norway's architectural treasures dating from the 12th century, was burned to the ground via arson. By January 1993, fire attacks had occurred on at least seven other major stave churches, including one on Christmas Eve of 1992.^[9] Vikernes was found guilty of several of these cases; the attempted arson of Storetveit Church in Bergen, the arson of Åsane Church in Bergen, Skjold Church in Vindafjord, and Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo. He was also charged for the arson of Fantoft stave church outside Bergen, although the jurors voted not guilty. The judges claimed this an error of the jurors but refused to overthrow the whole case.^{[citation needed]}

The public perceived Vikernes was motivated by Satanism^[10]. One reason for this was that the first case of arson happened on the 6th June 1992. The 6/6/6 were then linked to the Number of the Beast (by the rumor it is that the arson occurred at 6am). However, Vikernes has made clear that he was motivated by pagan ideology.

In an interview with Michael Moynihan he stated his (hypothetical) motive as follows, without admitting that he was guilty:

"I am not going to say that I burnt any churches. But let me put it this way: There was one person who started it. I was not found guilty of burning the Fantoft stave church, but anyway, that was what triggered the whole thing. That was the 6th of June and everyone linked it to Satanism. (...) What everyone overlooked was that on the 6th June, year 793, in Lindesfarne in Britain was the site of the first known Viking raid in history, with Vikings from Hordaland, which is my county."^[11]

He also stated "They [the Christians] desecrated our graves, our burial mounds, so it's revenge."^[12] When asked, "You claim that the church burnings are linked to Odinism or Àsatrù?", he replied: "The point is that all these churches [i.e. church burnings] are linked to one person [...] who was not Øystein obviously. All the church burnings, with the exception of Stavager, because that was another group (who, by the way, have also turned into nationalistic pagans)."^[13]

In his manifesto Vargsmål, Vikernes writes: "For each devastated graveyard, one heathen grave is avenged, for each ten churches burnt to ashes, one heathen hof is avenged, for each ten priests or freemasons assassinated, one heathen is avenged."^[14]

In October 2003, Vikernes failed to return to his low-security prison in Tønsberg, Norway, after having been granted a short leave. Vikernes was found riding in a stolen Volvo car, which contained an unloaded AG3 automatic rifle, a handgun, numerous large knives, a gas mask, camouflage clothing, a laptop, a compass, a Global Positioning System, various maps and a fake passport (it is thought that Vikernes came to be in possession of this equipment by means of a military barracks). For this; thirteen months were added to his sentence, and he was then moved to a maximum-security prison in Trondheim. He has since been moved again, this time to Tromsø Prison.^{[15] [5]}

When Vikernes was convicted, it was possible to be released on parole after serving 12 years of a 21 year sentence, but this was later changed to 14 years by the Norwegian Parliament while he was in prison. In June 2006, Vikernes was denied parole by the Department of Criminal Justice for this reason, after having served 12 years of his sentence. His lawyer, John Christian Elden, is considering a lawsuit, viewing the policy change as a form of retroactive legislation. Article 97 of the Norwegian constitution prohibits any law to be given retroactive force.

On August 28, 2006, it was stated on Vikernes' official website that his parole has been postponed to April 2008. ^[16]

Next to the book Lords of Chaos, the main source for Vikernes' political and religious views is www.burzum.org. There is however no third party source which confirms that the texts on that homepage were indeed written by Varg Vikernes. After his imprisonment in 1994 Vikernes began to write a manifesto called Vargsmål. Although some publishers were initially interested due to Vikernes' presence in the Norwegian media, they turned the book down as soon as they had the opportunity to read it, as its contents were considered too extreme. According to Lords of Chaos that Vargsmål became available on the Norwegian internet for some time in 1996, but not in a printed form.^[17] In 1997 a Norwegian publisher released a paperback edition of the book; the book's publication was financed by Vikernes' mother, Lene Bore.^[18] Vikernes has disputed the english translation of his book in an article on his website^[19].

Vikernes has been commonly labeled a Neo-Nazi. Vikernes is formerly a member of the publisher and record label Cymophane productions^[20] and was also was involved with the Norsk Hedensk Front (Norwegian Heathen Front), a sub-division of the Germanic Heathen Front, both of which he founded and led. The organization has been often accused of Neo-Nazi ideology ^[21], however groups within the Heathen Front have claimed that they reject "all forms of xenophobia, racism and racist violence". He also helped create the Odalist movement, of which the Heathen Front is a prominent part. His former ideas about neo-Nazism and fascism can be found in several small pamphlets. As stated on his official website, Vikernes would not use the term Nazi any longer as self-description. However, the statement of Vikernes concerning the "Nazi Ghost" on his homepage^[22] is rather ambiguous:

"The reason I have been drawn to and occasionally have expressed support for "nazism" is mainly because many of the Norwegian (and German) "nazis" embraced our Pagan religion as our blood-religion and they rejected Judeo-Christianity as Jewish heresy [...]" "So, since I am not a "nazi" I began to use another term, in the late 90's. I did it not just to avoid confusion, but also to find a term more suitable and accurate than the other terms I had used. This new term was odalism [...]"

Vikernes then expresses the meaning of odalism partly in the words of Nazi terminology (he says he opposes "race-mixing" for example), but he would not use the term Nazism because of propaganda reasons:

"The "nazi ghost" has scared millions of Europeans from caring about their blood and homeland for sixty years now, and it is about time we banish this ghost and again start to think and care about the things that (whether we like it or not) are important to us."

He still embraces racism^[23] and eugenics ("race hygiene")^[24] in other texts on his homepage.

Vidkun Quisling, Nazi collaborator, prime minster of Norway between 1942 and 1945 and involuntary originator of the term quisling-regime, had developed an extremely obscure esoteric doctrine labelled "Universism". An online-article^[25] about him mentions that the only modest intellectual influence he ever had with this doctrine was on certain extreme strains of Norwegian black metal music. Indeed, in the Interview in Lords of Chaos, Varg Vikernes is faced with the question whether "Quisling's Religion" is pagan or Christian.^[26] Moynihan & Søderlind write: "Vikernes has discovered his predecessor in Vidkun Quisling." ^[27] At one point, he took the name "Kvisling" as a nod to Quisling, releasing an album under the alias. ^[28] Later albums returned to Varg Vikernes. In an interview available at www.burzum.com he has expressed some political admiration for Quisling.^[29] On www.burzum.org Vikernes does not mention Vidkun Quisling at all.^[30]

Vikernes embraces a "modern scientific worldview resting on a foundation made up of the Pagan values and ideals; loyalty, wisdom, courage, love, discipline, honesty, intelligence, beauty, responsibility, health and strength." He draws a direct connection between both race and intelligence and intelligence and religion, denouncing theism as "mental enslavement" fit only for "inferior races". Vikernes goes on to say "If it is supposed to serve a purpose Paganism needs to be an ideology, not a religion"^[31] He is the author of several works on his personal world view, namely "Vargsmål" (lit. 'the speech of Varg'), "Irminsûl" and "Germansk Mytologi og Verdensanskuelse" (lit. 'Germanic Mythology and Worldview').

Vikernes has written lyrics for several songs by Darkthrone (Quintessence, As Flittermice as Satan's Spies, etc.) that make use of characteristics from old Germanic folklore. In these, Satan is brought up in the context of an 'eye' that is a source of light (i.e. the sun), with mentions of a 'spear' and a 'hall of battle', all of which are masked references to the Germanic god Odin. This was done with the double meaning of Odin as the 'adversary' of Jewish and Christian tradition. This has been taken as assumption that Vikernes was at one time a Satanist, though Vikernes has stated many times that he is opposed to Satanism as he considers it to be a reactionary form of Christianity.

According to Vikernes,

Christianity was created by some decadent and degenerated Romans as a tool of oppression, in the late Roman era, and it should be treated accordingly. It is like 'handcuffs' to the mind and spirit and is nothing but destructive to mankind. In fact I don't really see Christianity as a religion. It is more like a spiritual plague, a mass psychosis, and it should first and foremost be treated as a problem to be solved by the medical science. Christianity is a diagnosis. It's like Islam and the other Asian "religions", a HIV/AIDS of the spirit and mind.^[32]

Vikernes has been fascinated with the fictional realm of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien, from a very young age. His stage name (Grishnakh) is taken from that of a minor character in The Two Towers. The name "Burzum", meaning "darkness", was taken from the Black Speech inscribed on the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. The script read: "Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul,ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul." ("One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.")

Vikernes interpreted The Lord of the Rings on his website, showing the connections to paganism in the books. Tolkien was a professor in Anglo-Saxon linguistics, and despite being of Catholic faith, he was an ethnic European influenced by Pagan ideas. Varg criticized the film adaption for Lord of The Rings, stating that the portrayal of the people of Rohan (the Middle-earth equivalent of Germanic civilization) as dirty, penniless villagers was uncharacteristic, since cleanliness, health, and especially bathing, were all values that were held very highly by Germanic people. Vikernes has also gone on to state that the women of southern Europe were much more attracted to Germanic men because they were "fairer and healthier," and since public bathing was outlawed by the Holy Roman Empire, many of the men that southern European women were exposed to were less attractive as mates. Vikernes feels that Tolkien's Catholic faith may have contributed to this bias.^[33]

American journalist Michael Moynihan (behind the musical project Blood Axis) wrote a book entitled Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground with co-author Didrik Søderlind that is concerned with the events of the early black metal scene in Norway. Vikernes has spoken against this book, stating that it is full of misconceptions.

Torstein Grude created a Norwegian documentary entitled Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media), to which Vikernes has given a more positive review. As its title implies, the movie focuses on the often hysterical media coverage of the church burning cases and the black metal scene in general. In the film, Vikernes accuses Finn Bjørn Tønder (journalist, Bergens Tidende) of deliberately informing the police about his identity after he had completed an anonymous interview. Vikernes was arrested only hours after the interview, one day before it was printed in Bergens Tidende, and was released after a week in prison due to lack of proof. In the film Svein Erik Krogvoll (head of criminal investigations, Bergen Police District) evades the question whether Vikernes was treated anonymously by Tønder: "It was all OK and legal."

Tønder was the man who gave Kristian Vikernes the name "Greven" (The Count).^{[citation needed]}

Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media) also claimed that the Norwegian news media hyped the Satanist angle and unwittingly created a mass following for Burzum and Vikernes, both in Norway and internationally.

• 19-year-old Novak Majstorovic, guitarist of a metal band called "SchwarzReich" (inspired by the German term for "Black Empire"), was charged with arson and burglary in relation to the torching of a 106-year-old United Church in Ascot Vale, Australia in August 2004. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in Youth Detention. In all media depictions of the event he is said to have been heavily influenced by Burzum. However, he has stated on several message boards across the internet that the influence doesn't stretch beyond the superficial, and that the media has overblown his statements to the police to suit their own ends. He claims that the arson had very little in common with Vikernes' attacks. Majstorovic was released in August 2006. The church's priest, despite his promises to the media to contact Majstorovic has made no effort to. ^[34]

• An 18-year old Finn named Kalle Holm, known to have played drums in several Finnish metal bands, said that he was influenced by Burzum at his website. He attempted arson on the Porvoo Cathedral in Finland in May 2006. The roof of the church burned, but the ceiling, vaults and interiors survived undamaged. The attorney's claims that the motives behind the arson were related to a "hatred towards Christianity" were overruled in court. He was sentenced to three years and two months of imprisonment without parole. ^[35]

• The Winnipeg Sun reported three people were convicted June 27, 2006 of arson in a fire that destroyed the Minnedosa United Church in Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada on February 12, 2006. One was sentenced to three years in prison, the second to two years and the third to two years less a day. All three were ordered to pay C$1.2 million in restitution. Justice officials said the church was set on fire on Vikernes' birthday (February 11th).^[36].

• Vikernes has to pay NOK13,5 million, news coverage in Bergens Tidende, -- in Norwegian
• Right wing extremism in Norway - 2001, page 8, paragraph title Norsk Hedensk Front, published by Antirasistisk senter and Monitor, -- in Norwegian
• The extreme right 1999, a report from Antirasistisk senter, -- in Norwegian
• Antisemitism Worldwide 2000/1 - Sweden, from The Stephen Roth Institute, Tel Aviv University
• The Count caught with an AG-3 automatic rifle, news coverage in Aftenposten, -- in Norwegian
• Police nab The Count after he fled jail, news coverage in Aftenposten
• Arrested Count was heavily armed, news coverage in Aftenposten
• Interview on a metal site (Old photo before new political affiliations)
• Editorial in The Age on Novak and his actions
• The nun-murders inspired by The count, news coverage in Dagbladet, -- in Norwegian
• The Count could have inspired the nun-killing, news coverage in Verdens Gang, -- in Norwegian
• Imdb Article

• Mattias Gardell. 2003. Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4
• Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. 2003. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4
• Michael Moynihan & Didrik Søderlind. 1998. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground.
• Torstein Grude. 1998. Satan rir media (Satan Rides the Media)

Official sites

• Official Burzum and Varg Vikernes home site

Unofficial sites

• Burzum.com
• Article and picture from the 2003 arrest

Other

• How Black is Black Metal? - An extensive review of Lords of Chaos including much background information.
• Varg Vikernes on drugs - A recent video showing Vikernes talking about his thoughts of modern medicine, filmed in 2006 and extracted from "Until the light takes us" documental.