Editing Euronymous (section)

===Murder===
{{Main|Murder of Euronymous}}

In early 1993, animosity arose between Euronymous and Vikernes, as well as between Euronymous and some members of the Swedish black metal scene.<ref name=LoC117>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 117. Quote: "in the first months of the year [...] bad blood arose between Vikernes and Aarseth. Their disagreement appears to come at the same period when Øystein was also arguing with members of the Swedish scene, causing a general animosity to surface between Black Metalers in the two neighboring countries. [...] The initial suspicion of many [for his murder] was directed at the Swedes".</ref>

On the night of 10 August 1993, Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death at his apartment in Oslo. The murder was initially blamed on Swedish black metallers by the media.<ref name=LoC117/> It has been speculated that the murder was the result of a power struggle, a financial dispute over Burzum records (Euronymous owed Vikernes a large sum of [[royalty payment]]s),<ref name=LoC120/> or an attempt at "outdoing" the stabbing in Lillehammer.<ref name=Yahoo>{{cite web|url=http://music.yahoo.com/mayhem/biography/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130209232033/http://music.yahoo.com/mayhem/biography/|url-status=dead|title=Mayhem Biography – Yahoo! Music|date=9 February 2013|archive-date=9 February 2013|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> Vikernes claims that he killed Euronymous in self-defense. He says that Euronymous had plotted to stun him with an [[electroshock weapon]], tie him up, and [[torture]] him to death while [[snuff film|videotaping the event]].<ref name=LoC125-128>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), pp.125–128</ref> Vikernes explains: "If he was talking about it to everybody and anybody I wouldn't have taken it seriously. But he just told a select group of friends, and one of them told me".<ref name=untilthelight/> He said Euronymous planned to use a meeting about an unsigned contract to ambush him.<ref name=untilthelight/>

On the night of the murder, Vikernes and Snorre "Blackthorn" Ruch drove from Bergen to Euronymous' apartment at Tøyengata<ref name=purefucking/> in Oslo. Blackthorn stood outside smoking while Vikernes climbed the stairs to Euronymous' apartment on the fourth floor.<ref name=LoC125-128/> Vikernes said he met Euronymous at the door to hand him the signed contract, but when he stepped forward and confronted Euronymous, Euronymous "panicked" and kicked him in the chest.<ref name=LoC125-128/> Vikernes claims Euronymous ran into the kitchen to fetch a knife.<ref name=LoC125-128/> The two got into a struggle and Vikernes stabbed Euronymous to death. His body was found in the stairwell on the first floor with 23 stab wounds—two to the head, five to the neck, and 16 to the back.<ref>Steinke, Darcey. "Satan's Cheerleaders". ''[[Spin (magazine)|SPIN]]''. February 1996.</ref> Vikernes contends that most of Euronymous' wounds were caused by broken glass he had fallen on during the struggle.<ref name=LoC125-128/> After the murder, Vikernes and Blackthorn drove back to Bergen. On the way, they stopped at a lake where Vikernes disposed of his bloodstained clothes.<ref name=LoC125-128/> This claim of self-defense is doubted by Faust,<ref>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 123.</ref> while [[Necrobutcher]] believes Vikernes killed Euronymous due to the death threats he received from him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Campion |first=Chris |date=20 February 2005 |title=In the face of death |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/feb/20/popandrock4 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=[[London]] |access-date=30 December 2018 |quote='Øystein was always sending death threats to people,' says Necro Butcher. 'It was his reaction to everything. But he didn't put so much into it. And then when he met you, he was like, "OK. You're cool!". Then you were best friends. So when eventually he got to be unfriendly with Varg, he threatened him like he did everyone else. Øystein told him, "I'm going to send some people to torture you. Until you die". But Varg Vikernes saw this as a real threat. He probably thought, "better him than me. I'll just go down and do him".' |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118145924/https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2005/feb/20/popandrock4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Necrobutcher also intended to murder Euronymous himself due to him tastelessly capitalizing on Dead's suicide.<ref name="hos">{{Cite web |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/10/mayhem-necrobutcher-euronymous/ |title=Mayhem's Necrobutcher: I Was on My Way to Kill Euronymous Myself |publisher=[[Consequence of Sound]] |date=15 October 2019 |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=16 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016053030/https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/10/mayhem-necrobutcher-euronymous/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Blackthorn claims Vikernes planned to murder Euronymous and pressured him into coming along. He claims that, in the summer of 1993, he was almost [[Involuntary commitment|committed]] to a [[psychiatric hospital|mental hospital]] but fled to Bergen and stayed with Vikernes. Blackthorn said of the murder, "I was neither for nor against it. I didn't give a shit about Øystein".<ref>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 130.</ref> Vikernes, however, claims that he had not planned the killing and that Blackthorn came along to show Euronymous some new guitar riffs.<ref>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 135.</ref>

====Aftermath====
Vikernes was arrested on 19 August 1993 in Bergen.<ref name=LoC120/> Many other members of the scene, including Blackthorn and Faust, were also taken in for questioning. The trial began on 2 May 1994. At the trial, it was claimed that Vikernes, Blackthorn, and another friend had planned the murder. The third person stayed at the apartment in Bergen as an alibi. To make it look like they never left Bergen, he was to rent films, play them in the apartment, and withdraw money from Vikernes' credit card.<ref>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 129.</ref> On 16 May 1994,<ref name=countregret/> Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison (Norway's maximum penalty) for the murder of Euronymous, the arson of three churches, the attempted arson of a fourth church, and for the theft and storage of 150&nbsp;kg of explosives. However, he only confessed to the latter.{{ambiguous|reason=This word is only clear when there are only two alternatives|date=August 2022}} Two churches were burnt the day he was sentenced, "presumably as a statement of symbolic support".<ref name=LoC141>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 141.</ref> Blackthorn was sentenced to 8 years in prison for being an accomplice.<ref name=LoC141/> Vikernes was released from prison on parole in 2009.

At Euronymous' funeral, Hellhammer (Mayhem's drummer) and Necrobutcher (Mayhem's former bassist) decided to continue with the band and worked on releasing the ''[[De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas]]'' album.<ref name=guardian/> Before the release, Euronymous' family asked Hellhammer to remove the bass tracks recorded by Vikernes. Hellhammer said: "I thought it was appropriate that the murderer and victim were on the same record. I put word out that I was rerecording the bass parts, but I never did".<ref name=guardian/> The album, which has Euronymous on electric guitar and Vikernes on bass guitar, was finally released in May 1994.

A part of the Norwegian scene considered Vikernes a traitor for murdering Euronymous<ref name=nordicmetal>Various artists: ''Nordic Metal – A Tribute to Euronymous''. [[Necropolis Records]], 1995.</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2022}}<!--I don't doubt this, but we should use a better source.--> and turning his back on [[Satanism]] in favor of nationalism and [[Odinism]],<ref name=loc139>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 139.</ref> although Vikernes claims he was never a Satanist and had only used Satan to provoke. They saw Euronymous' death as a significant loss to the scene, and some black metallers "have sworn to avenge Aarseth's death".<ref name=loc138>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 138.</ref> A few years after the murder, Ihsahn of Emperor said, "There's no discipline in the scene anymore, like earlier on around the shop".<ref name=loc65>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 65.</ref> After his death, a "cult developed around the memory of Euronymous", and he was hailed by some as "the King"<ref name=nordicmetal/><ref name=loc138/> or "Godfather of Black Metal".<ref name=loc138/>

A new generation of musicians also tried to gain credibility by riding on the back of his legacy.<ref name="loc138" /> However, many of Euronymous' friends and bandmates "speak of the killing with a tone of indifference". ''Lords of Chaos'' remarks: "what is striking [...] is how little they care about the lives or deaths of one another".<ref name="Lords of Chaos, p. 137">''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 137.</ref> In the book, Hellhammer,<ref name="Chaos p. 136">''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 136.</ref> Ihsahn<ref name="LoC120" /> and Samoth<ref>''Lords of Chaos'' (2003 edition), p. 121.</ref> claim that Euronymous' death either did not affect them or did not shock them. [[Anders Odden]] (a friend of Euronymous at the time) said of the murder: "It wasn't odd that he ended up getting killed. He thought he could threaten to kill people without it having any consequences". He added: "I think many people felt relief once he was gone". Writer and musician [[Erlend Erichsen]] agreed, saying, "Nobody was there to boss them about. The 'black metal police' were gone".<ref name="onceuponatime" />