Lyrical Analysis of ‘Valen’ by Burzum
Come death, dear death; give me the answer to all riddles, give me key and wand, untie the knots of the world.
The first few verses start off with the idea of death central at hand. The lyrical I (give ME the answer) decidedly demands death to provide him “with the answer to all riddles”. This could be interpreted as death being perused as a means to enforce the actualization of life, in the sense that mortality makes you forget the small, unimportant things in life, instead making room to focus on what’s truly worthwhile and great, fostering a penchant for heroism in the process. In this memento mori of imperatives, death acts as the catalysator of one’s potential, rising above the meager condition that is normal everyday life.
Why in death, my friend, and only in death? Why do you dive into the river of forgetfulness? Why in darkness, my friend, and only in darkness, do you seek the friendly warmth of the light?
“My friend” and “you” in this part of the song seem to be referring to the subject i.e. the singer. He speaks in a judgmental manner, reproaching himself for forgetting his own mortality and the only sure fact that we have this one life to lead. In “darkness”, during hardship and the squeal of miserable times, one seeks “the friendly warmth of the light”, a personification of the Christian communal hope for immortality. Instead, one must affirm one’s inner capability to grapple with the case at hand, assorting one’s life energies to a higher cause through dedicating one’s limited time and resources to first and foremost develop skills and oneself.
Let me open the closed room, let me carve the hidden runes, let me throw my spear, into the malevolent chanter’s cold heart.
This segment is a bit trickier, but it revolves around actualizing man’s powers, rediscovering the individual potential which has been hidden from the self and breaking the chain of malice, of lies and limiting beliefs forced down one’s throat throughout one’s life. What those entail, are up for interpretation.
Death was here first. Forgetfulness will always win. Darkness gave birth to light. What else do you want to know?
The same jazz about death. Alternatively, it could be interpreted in relation to darkness; before anything came to be, there was nothing. Consciousness of death, the first time you confront the thought of death, is an intense experience, of which most people tend to forget or ignore in the hustle and bustle of daily life, as well as in their spare time (their “crucial time”). No matter how much you try to incorporate the “memento mori”-maxim as a part of your life (realizing yourself through what you truly want to do in a meaningful sense, not stressing about every moment you spend, which people tend to mischaracterize it as), some lazy comfortable feeling will arise surreptitiously in you. Knowledge of the sombre aspect of existence paves the way for excellence.
Death, dear death! Death, my death! Forgetfulness has taken me. Darkness surrounds me forever. What else can I know?
Again, the prospect of death is the ultimate maker of existential attainment, and will always haunt humanity, for better or worse. However, forgetting this fact, will make possible the subsequent “lost futures” of potential pursuits, as well as making trivial matters seem all the more potent. Decadence and various sins like sloth, greed, lust, pure materialist individualism, anger and others may wash over you. You wander around without a map to follow. You’re being led by the immediacy of tempting, close-at-hand pleasures. Conforming to the generally accepted existence, which may very well be the right path for many, nonetheless obstructs for the true agent of the self. This case applies for the true individuals.
