The only conceivable relevance for printing such a calendar in the report might be if it could alert police officers to possible dates when black-clad youngsters were likely to spark up their cigarette lighters at the portals of their local church. But the pattern of church fires in Norway has been such that the law of averages would be a better thing to study if one wants to predict the next Satanic arson.
When taken too literally, the report is a veritable minefield. But if read with a critical mind, it will give police investigators good ideas of where and how to launch an investigation when the next church goes up in smoke.
Kirkebranner og satanistisk motiverte skadeverk also refers to stories that never really reached the media when the Satanic furor was at its height. Especially interesting are two anecdotes about Varg Vikernes that help provide insight into his mentality at the time, and illustrate some of the attitudes which made him such a role model for easily impressionable youths.
At an early point when Vikernes was held for questioning in Bergen in connection with the church fire at Fantoft, he intimated that during the next interrogation session, he would “lay his cards on the table,” and reveal what he knew to the investigators. As he was seated in the interrogation room the following day, he suddenly put a deck of cards down in front of him and stated, “Now I have laid my cards on the table.”
But despite his smart-ass remarks and mental capabilities, Vikernes was no match for the seasoned investigators of the Kripos. He sensed that the police net was tightening around him and that he was no longer in control of the situation, especially as the Oslo police dispatched its Church Fire Group to Bergen in 1993 to follow the goose steps of the Count and his subjects around Bergen.
Vikernes knocked on the door of the police investigation’s impromptu headquarters in Room 318 of the Hotel Norge in Bergen, and seems to have virtually forced his way into the suite. Dressed in chain mail, carrying two large knives in his belt, and flanked by the two young men who apparently behaved as if they were his bodyguards or henchmen, Vikernes stated that he was fed up with being harassed by the authorities, and that the police investigation into the Black Metal scene should be stopped.
When the operations leader replied that Vikernes hardly had the judicial weight to be issuing orders to the police, Vikernes took one step back and raised his right arm in a Roman salute, Nazi-style.
While both of these stories come from the police and might have been colored by their source, they are not hard to believe. It was, after all, probably Vikernes’s penchant for theatrical display that led him to turn his court proceedings into a media circus, thus setting the stage on which he would play out his role as the cartoonish character “The Count”—a role that later blew up in his face when the courts took his threatening outbursts seriously by giving him the harshest sentence allowed by Norwegian law.
So when Vikernes claims that he is in some way a political prisoner, he has a point. It would be almost impossible for someone of Vikernes’s age and lack of prior criminal record to receive a twenty-one year prison sentence. Compared with this, Bård Eithun received a sentence approximately two-thirds as long for a similarly brutal slaying. The differences in sentencing may well be political, for Eithun, despite never expressing much remorse, did not go out of his way to provoke the court as Vikernes did when he used the opportunity to proclaim his adherence to National Socialism.
This, of course, provided a perfect target against whom the courts could set a precedent to demonstrate that this youth phenomenon, this cocktail of the most shocking attitudes imaginable to the status quo of Norwegian society, would simply not be tolerated.
OUR WAY IS WOLFISH
IF WE RIDE ON THIS JOURNEY...
—“ATLAKVIDHA,” POETIC EDDA1
8
COUNT QUISLING
AS THE CHURCH BURNING AND MURDER TRIALS UNFOLDED IN NORWAY, VARG Vikernes began to take on an almost mythical role. Endless daily tabloid stories spewed forth headlines about his alleged deeds. Varg’s artistic pseudonym of “Count Grishnackh” on the early Burzum albums provided the press with a perfect soundbite with which to deliver the nation its first real bogey-man in fifty years. The media tag of “Greven” (“The Count”) triggered just the right images in the readers’ minds: a perverse self-styled aristocrat, outside the law, who enacted his libertine fantasies of destruction with a belief in immunity from punishment for his crimes. “The Count drank my blood!” and other sensational, revelatory headlines bestowed Vikernes with the added compulsions of a sadistic vampire, regardless of the fact that the entire story was probably a complete fabrication.
In truth, by this time Vikernes had disowned his previous “Count Grishnackh” pseudonym. “Varg” was not his birth name either, but he knew it suited his character well. In a magazine interview Vikernes explained the symbolism of his new designation, and his distaste for the one he was born with: “I couldn’t stand [the name Kristian] ... which means Christ and Christian. The word Varg has a great meaning for me. I could speak about this matter for an hour. Anyway briefly, if you make a diagram of this word, you’ll see that it’s the combination of the vertical and horizontal of the words Amor (the strongest feeling), Roma (the center of the world) and Grav (grave). Besides, Varg derives form an archaic Nordic language and means wolf...”2 As with his two deceased associates, Dead and Euronymous, Vikernes would be destined to fulfill both the overt and hidden essence of his self-given appellation.
Varg now states he originally adopted the title of “Count” for completely different reasons than the media picked up on. He explains, “Count comes from Comtes [sic; in fact, the term is comes], a Latin word, which means ‘companion, partner’ and the idea was that I am the partner of the people, but of course nobody realizes that. It was turned into all this Dracula, evil bullshit—typical.”3 The second part of Vikernes’s old pseudonym came from his beloved Tolkien books, where Grishnackh is an evil character on the side of Sauron.
VIKERNES’S NAME DIAGRAMS DRAWN DURING PRISON INTERVIEWS
Although Varg contributed to the hysteria in his own ways (in a similar manner to some of the contemptuous courtroom behavior by Charles Manson during his infamous trial a quarter-century earlier), he is correct that the portrait painted of him by the newspaper stories is quite at odds with reality. As he explains:
Like my girlfriend says, she hates “The Count” but she likes me. It’s something I can say as one of my own feelings as well. I don’t like the Count. If I met him I would beat him up, because he seems like a complete idiot. But I know that it’s not me. It’s like a shadow of mine that’s created by the light put on me by these Zionist journalists. The only thing they want is to have a Satan; without that they cannot force people into Christianity.4
Varg’s contempt of the media’s portrayal of his personality is mirrored by his disgust for the court hearings in which he was convicted. He is quick to point out the absurdities and ironies that came to the fore during these proceedings.
VARG VIKERNES
THEY HADN’T FOUND ANY REAL EVIDENCE AGAINST YOU?
They still have no evidence. They don’t have one single technical proof, nothing. The only reason I’m sentenced is because of those people, who might have done it themselves, saying that I did it. That’s the only reason I was found guilty. It’s all based on testimony, from people who were later found guilty of lying in court! Perjury!
LIKE WHO?
Jørn Inge [Tunsberg, guitarist in the band Hades]. Another zero, an anonymous guy.
HOW DID HE KNOW ANYTHING?
Because he’d burned it, quite simply! Or he was a part of it. He said that I burned [Åsane Church] in court, and I was found guilty. But he was part of the burning as well, and during his case when he said he was not, they didn’t believe him. That’s the system.
YOU WOULD THINK IF PEOPLE WERE REVEALED TO HAVE LIED ABOUT THEIR OWN ACTIONS, THAT WOULD CALL THEIR EARLIER TESTIMONY ABOUT OTHERS INTO QUESTION.
Yeah. And also I had
an alibi for one of the churches which I was found guilty of burning. Ironically, I killed the witness—I killed the alibi! But still they had the police interview, he’d told them that in an interview. We should have had that as a proof, but nobody mentioned it. I wasn’t allowed to speak to the court.
That’s typical trial bullshit. Like my psychiatrists who examined me, one of them was a Jew and a Freemason! The other was a communist. My lawyer was a homosexual. The other lawyer was a Freemason. The one single Christian faith healer in Norway was in the jury! Can you imagine? In other words, a person who says, “I can look through you and with the power of Jesus pull out the evil spirits who make you sick”!
NORWEGIAN HEADLINE: “DID YOU BURST IN THE SUN, VARG?” [A PLAY ON THE IDEA FROM NORWEGIAN FOLKLORE THAT TROLLS BURST WHEN EXPOSED TO SUNLIGHT]
NORWEGIAN HEADLINE: “‘I AM THE SON OF ODIN AND SATAN’—AND HE IS FINANCED BY THE KU KLUX KLAN”
HOW DO THEY PICK THE JURY? ISN’T IT RANDOM?
Officially, but it’s quite suspect when they find “at random” the one Christian healer in Norway. Also there were at least two Freemasons in the jury. All of them were pensioners; there was only one person who was-n’t elderly. It was just a big act, all of it bullshit.
The other attorney, for the guy accused of the same crime [the Øystein killing], was a Freemason as well, and actually gave evidence against his own client in court, just to get me sentenced! Snorre had some information, and it was very important to find out whether he knew it before the police had told him, or if he learned it from the police. His so-called defense lawyer testified that he did know it before the police talked to him.
Also I had said the guy had nothing to do with it, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he said, “Yes, I had something to do with it, I accomplished the plan and everything.” Very good defense lawyer, who told him to say that!
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR LAWYER?
Officially he’s a very good lawyer, but I’m very dissatisfied with him because he didn’t let me speak. Every time a witness lied, I wasn’t allowed to say anything, even though the judge asked, “Do you want to say anything?” My lawyer told me, “Don’t say anything.” Of course you believe your lawyer, right? Especially when he’s supposed to be so goddamned good. So I didn’t say anything. But instead, as they lied, I could have revealed the lie. And punks were testifying against me, from the Blitz squat [in Oslo]. It was stupid. Also they brought in a Swedish girl who was insane, and didn’t mention that to the jury. Not one single word that she was insane.
CLINICALLY INSANE?
Yeah. She was witnessing against me saying I’d drunk her blood from her neck and everything, and they believed this!
BUT YOU KNEW HER?
Yes, through letters or something; I met her a couple of times.
IS THIS THE PERSON THE MEDIA CLAIMED WAS YOUR SWEDISH GIRLFRIEND, MARIA?
Exactly. I only met her a couple of times.
NORWEGIAN HEADLINE: “THE COUNT WON’T SAY WHO SET THE FIRES: ‘I KNEW ABOUT THE CHURCH FIRES’”
For a number of reasons, Vikernes found himself at the center of the Black Metal controversy, both in Norway and the rest of world. In one sense this can be viewed as a result of the massive media coverage he and his Doppelgänger, “The Count,” received; on the other hand, Varg’s status as spokesman or figurehead is fully warranted by his own history, for he does appear to be the personality who gave focus to the ideas welling within the scene, and led people into action. As Vikernes states, “there was one person who started it,” clearly implying it was he himself. The combination of strong belief in his own role, along with his impressive ability to incitingly voice his opinions, have both ensured Varg’s continued influence, even from behind bars.
The fascination with Vikernes on the part of the media and his fans and listeners is not based on mere hype alone. Until the time of the Bergens Tidende article and Varg’s subsequent arrest, he was admired by most everyone in the scene, and Burzum was considered a band that pioneered the aesthetics and dynamics of the modern wave of Norwegian Black Metal. Even after the killing of Euronymous, when many developed a fierce and abiding hatred for Vikernes, he is still often spoken of with a certain degree of deference.
There is one person who has always stood by Varg’s side and spoken out rigorously in his defense: his mother Lene Bore. Not only has she attempted to improve the public perception of her son, she also visits him frequently, helps him deal with correspondence, and assists in business matters relating to Burzum.
A number of Burzum albums have been released since his imprisonment and all have sold admirably well on the worldwide market. Royalties for the record sales are received by Lene Bore, a fact that allegedly allowed for the development of serious trouble in the future. Lene Bore also helped provide the money for recording and releasing the early Burzum releases on Aarseth’s Deathlike Silence label, and as a result she had occasion to meet a number of Varg’s friends in the Black Metal scene. Her comments are interesting, for she has dealt with an amazing amount of unrest as a result of her son’s actions over the years, and some of her impressions of Varg’s life are quite different from his own.
LENE BORE
WHAT WAS VARG LIKE AS A CHILD?
Varg was a loving boy. He could be very joyous and happy. Varg had very strong reactions and he was not good at hiding these or adjusting to situations. He never liked organized play or organized sports. He was very good at playing on his own, with a very rich imagination, but as soon as he had to adjust to others in the kindergarten it didn’t work so well. He never liked the kindergarten or school.
HOW DID HE GET ALONG WITH HIS FATHER?
His father was very authoritarian and wanted things his way. Their relationship started going bad quite early. His father wanted things his way and Varg had his own ideas about how things should be done. Possibly because he had these problems with his father I had a very close relationship with him. I often felt that it was appropriate to look after him a bit extra because of all the conflicts between Varg and the school, his father, and so on.
YOUR FAMILY SPENT A YEAR IN IRAQ. WHAT WAS THIS LIKE FOR VARG?
I think it might be here that Varg’s dislike toward other peoples started. He experienced a very differential treatment. The other children in his class would get slapped by their teachers; he would not be. For example when they were going to the doctor, even when there were other children waiting in line, Varg would be placed first. He reacted very strongly to this. He could not understand why we should go first when there were so many before us. He had a very strongly developed sense of justice. This created a lot of problems, because when he saw students being treated unfairly, he would intervene, and try to sort things out.
DID YOU REALIZE WHAT VARG WAS INVOLVED WITH IN HIS LATER TEENAGE YEARS?
I never knew about the Satanism part of it. I’ve never seen any signs of it either in his apartment or at home, apart from the way he dressed, which just got worse and worse. I had to see it as a teenage phenomenon, and that he would grow out of it, because all his friends looked almost as bad as him. I felt this as a real blow because when my sons were little, the first punks started to appear, and I wondered what their parents had done. And then my son ended up looking even worse.
WHAT WERE HIS FRIENDS IN THE BLACK METAL SCENE LIKE?
When his friends came home to me, I got to know them a bit. I didn’t think they seemed like criminals. They were quite easygoing boys. I was very relieved that there was no nonsense with drinking and drugs or crime.
DID YOU KNOW ØYSTEIN AARSETH?
I met him a couple of times and felt that Varg initially looked up to him a lot. He was very proud that he was the one who had gotten the record contract and not the others. That Øystein, who was five years older, achieved such an enormously strong grip on Varg, made me a little wary. I confronted Varg with this. He said it was nothing to worry about.
Øystein behaved like an alright fellow
when he was at our house, even though he might look scary to people in the street. People might think that of my son, too, but I had to relate to them based on how they behaved towards me. I’ve never seen anyone have such a status with Varg as Øystein did in the beginning. Varg was very disappointed after a while. He lived with Øystein for a few months and then I think he saw things from a completely different angle.
Lords of Chaos Page 18
