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Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante (born 1 July 1930), often referred to as Goni, is a Bolivian businessman and politician who served as the 61st president of Bolivia from 1993 to 1997 and from 2002 to 2003. A member of the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement (MNR), he previously served as minister of planning and coordination under Víctor Paz Estenssoro and succeeded him as the MNR's national chief in 1990.

As minister of planning, Sánchez de Lozada employed "shock therapy" in 1985 to cut hyperinflation from an estimated 25,000% to a single digit within a period of less than six weeks. Sánchez de Lozada was twice elected president of Bolivia, both times on the MNR ticket. During his first term (1993–1997), he initiated a series of landmark social, economic and constitutional reforms. Elected to a second term in 2002, he struggled with protests and events in October 2003 related to the Bolivian gas conflict. According to official reports, 59 protestors, ten soldiers and sixteen policemen died in confrontations. As a result of the violent clashes, Sánchez de Lozada resigned and went into exile in the United States. In March 2006, he resigned the leadership of the MNR.

The governments of Evo Morales and Luis Arce have unsuccessfully sought his extradition from the U.S. to stand trial for the events of 2003. Victims' representatives have pursued compensatory damages for extrajudicial killings in a suit against him in the United States under the Alien Tort Statute. In 2014, the U.S. District Court in Florida ruled the case could proceed under the Torture Victim Protection Act. The trial, which began on 5 March 2018 and concluded on 30 May 2018, found Sánchez de Lozada and his former defense minister Carlos Sanchez Berzaín not liable for the civilian deaths after the judge declared that there was "insufficient evidence". Nevertheless, on 3 August 2020, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated this ruling. On 5 April 2021, a separate U.S. District Court ruling reaffirmed a 2018 jury verdict which found both Sánchez de Lozada and Carlos Sanchez Berzaín liable and required them to pay $10 million.

Political life
Sánchez de Lozada's ancestors include Daniel Sánchez Bustamante, grandfather and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mariano Calvo, great-great-grandfather and President; and Tomás Frías, great-great-grandmother's brother and also President.

The son of a political exile, university professor, and diplomat, Sánchez de Lozada spent his early years in the United States. He grew up in Iowa, and he attended boarding school at Scattergood Friends School in rural Iowa. He studied literature and philosophy at the University of Chicago. As a result of this experience, he speaks Spanish with a midwestern American accent.

At the age of 21, he returned to Bolivia in 1951, on the eve of the 1952 revolution led by the MNR political party. This transformed Bolivia from a semi-feudal oligarchy to a multi-party democracy by introducing universal suffrage, nationalizing the mines of the three Tin Barons, and carrying out sweeping agrarian reform. Sánchez de Lozada pursued filmmaking and participated in several cinematic projects in the 1950s, including filming Bolivia's 1952 Revolution. In 1954, he founded Telecine. His film Voces de la Tierra (Voices from the Earth) won First Prize for documentaries at the 1957 Edinburgh Film Festival.

In 1957, Sánchez de Lozada turned to resource businesses, founding Andean Geoservices. In 1966, he founded the mining company COMSUR, later becoming one of the most successful mining entrepreneurs in the country.

Bolivia was ruled for nearly two decades by military dictatorships. In 1979 and again in 1980, on the return to democracy, Sánchez de Lozada was elected to congress as deputy for Cochabamba. In 1985, he was elected senator from Cochabamba and then as President of the Senate of Bolivia. Soon after, President Víctor Paz Estenssoro appointed him as Planning Minister. Sánchez de Lozada oversaw a series of economic structural reforms that steered the country away from state capitalism, towards a mixed economy. He is particularly known for having sharply reduced the hyperinflation of the period, using economic shock therapy along with then Finance Minister Juan L. Cariaga Osorio, as championed by United States economist Jeffrey Sachs, then of Harvard University.

Sánchez de Lozada ran for president in 1989 as the MNR candidate. While he won the plurality with 25.6% of the popular vote, in the congressional runoff among the top three candidates, Jaime Paz Zamora of the MIR, who had polled 21.8% of the popular vote and formerly been in third place, won the presidency. Paz Zamora was backed in the runoff by the second-placed, former military dictator Hugo Banzer of the ADN, who had won 25.2% of the popular vote. Sánchez de Lozada describes himself as a fiscal conservative and social progressive.

First presidency (1993–1997)
In 1993, Sánchez de Lozada again ran for president, this time in alliance with the Tupac Katari Revolutionary Liberation Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Katari de Liberación, MRTKL), an indigenous party formed in 1985 whose leader Víctor Hugo Cárdenas was the candidate for vice-president. The MNR-MRTKL ticket won the first plurality with 36.5% of the popular vote, and Sánchez de Lozada was confirmed as president by Congress. A coalition government that included the center-left Free Bolivia Movement (MBL) and populist Civic Solidarity Union (UCS) was formed. With the 1993 electoral victory, Cárdenas became the first elected indigenous vice president in South America.

The 1993–1997 MNR-led government initiated a series of constitutional, social, economic and political reforms. The Constitution was rewritten to define Bolivia as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation; the first articles enshrined indigenous rights. Other legislation included the Popular Participation Act, which decentralized the country by creating 311 (since expanded to 321) municipal governments, empowering them for local governance. The law introduced direct municipal elections for the indigenous population, and authorized local decision making on municipal spending, for which 20 percent of federal spending was guaranteed to the municipalities on a per capita basis. Other programs included educational reform, which introduced classroom teaching in the local indigenous languages, universal maternity coverage and milk and medical coverage for children up to the age of five years, and a universal old-age annual benefit. Political reforms included opening elections to independent candidates for congressional seats; and capitalization, a program which enabled the formation of joint ventures by private capital and the Bolivian people (not the Bolivian state), and requiring the private capital be invested directly in the new company.

Capitalization program
The capitalization program aimed to sell public enterprises to private companies in exchange for money. The program was meant to occur in four phases, which would include the privatization of electricity and hydrocarbon. Between 1995-1996, the five largest state enterprises were privatized: the national oil company, phone company, electric company, national airline, and train system. By 1996, the program included the privatization of water. The capitalization program was controversial: it was perceived as a privatization of five major state-owned companies that ceded management of these industries to foreign interests. Supporters believed that the requirement for private capital to be directly invested in the new joint ventures significantly reduced room for corruption. The program was intended to provide for development of these "strategic" resources, as the Bolivian government could not afford to do so. The revenues of the new companies were expected to yield funds for human and social, as well as infrastructure development. The dividend payouts for the Bolivian people were the foundation of a universal, annual old-age benefit, the BONOSOL. Although small on a per capita basis, it was expected to benefit primarily the rural elderly, the most marginalized sector of Bolivia's indigenous population.

Finally, the reforms also included changes to the country's electoral laws. A new electoral system was introduced. The change opened elections for 70 congressional seats to independent candidates who were elected by plurality, with the remaining 60 seats to be filled proportionally by members of parties reflecting the votes cast for the presidential tickets. If no presidential candidate won an absolute majority, the president would be elected in a run-off of the top two contenders. The presidential term of office was set at five years.

Critics of the program have cited loss of national funds, skyrocketing prices for locals, and social unrest associated with such changes. The sale of the national oil company resulted in millions of dollars in lost profits, compared to the price of the sale. The privatization of electricity resulted in price increases for electricity, as well. As written by Jim Shultz for the North American Congress on Latin America, "The great sums promised from these sales of public assets seemed to barely trickle down into the pockets of the poor and flow freely into the coffers of the wealthy Bolivians who cut the deals—with major corruption scandals a regular fixture." Perhaps the most controversial impact was the privatization of water, which began under the government of Sánchez de Lozada and was followed by President Hugo Banzer, resulting in the Cochabamba Water War.

Second presidency (2002–2003)
In 2002, Sánchez de Lozada again ran for president. He chose Carlos Mesa as his running mate, an independent historian and journalist who had MNR sympathies. Sánchez de Lozada hired U.S. political consultants James Carville, Tad Devine, Stan Greenberg and Bob Shrum to advise his campaign.

After running a sophisticated campaign, Sánchez de Lozada seemed positioned to win a strong enough plurality to form a strong government. However, three days before the elections, the U.S. ambassador publicly warned the Bolivian people against electing "those who want Bolivia to again be an exporter of cocaine," as it would threaten U.S. aid to Bolivia. The people reacted in resentment, swelling the anti-U.S. vote for Evo Morales in the last three days of the campaign by 9 percent and helping him finish second after Sánchez de Lozada. Evo Morales of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) received 20.94% of the popular vote. The center-right neo-populist candidate, Manfred Reyes of NFR placed a close third with 20.91% of the popular vote. After a difficult coalition-building process, Sánchez de Lozada was elected in a coalition formed by the MNR-MBL, MIR and UCS, the last two former members of the preceding coalition headed by the rightist, former dictator General Hugo Banzer.

When Sánchez de Lozada took office, he was faced with an economic and social crisis inherited from the preceding administration. Economic growth had plunged from the 4.8% at the end of Sánchez de Lozada's first presidency to 0.6% in 1999 and had recovered to only 2% for 2002. The fiscal deficit was running at 8%.

Gas War and resignation
From his inauguration in August 2002 until the end of the year, there were fewer public tensions. In January 2003 and under the leadership of Evo Morales, a group of union leaders (Evo Morales for the "cocaleros"—coca growers, Jaime Solares and Roberto de la Cruz for urban workers and miners, Felipe Quispe for the indigenous farmers in the Aymara region surrounding La Paz) joined together to found the "People's High Command" (Estado Mayor del pueblo). A new wave of heightened protests began; main roads were blocked, and towns and cities were brought to a standstill. Some groups aired long-standing grievances against the government; others were targeted entirely locally, protesting against decisions of the now self-governing municipalities. In February, a standoff between police demanding higher pay and army units called to protect the presidential palace suddenly ended in violence and deaths in the streets of La Paz, without articulated demands.

The acute economic crisis affected above all the urban workers and the farming/indigenous populations; their struggles gave widespread support for protests. Protests and demands became more focused: the cocaleros continued protesting against eradication of a millenary plant (coca) used to produce cocaine, although Banzer's "Coca 0" policy had been replaced by the earlier subsidized crop substitution policy, in order to achieve gradual coca reduction but not total eradication. The indigenous farmers of the La Paz Aymara region pressed for political reform, to include recognition and inclusion of Bolivia's indigenous ethnic groups as legitimate political blocs. They wanted economic de-centralization based on recognition of indigenous groups as legitimate political actors. Other demands included autonomy for their territories. By contrast, urban workers, primarily in La Paz, and miners protested against the possible proceeds of increasing natural gas production going to foreigners.

Demands rose for the government to return to the corporatist state and nationalize Bolivia's hydrocarbon resources. Protesters demanded Sánchez de Lozada's resignation. In late September, a convoy of buses and trucks under a police escort was bringing back to La Paz over 700 persons, including foreign tourists, after a 10-day blockade of a valley resort town. In Warisata, confrontations between protesters blocking the road and the army led to six dead, among them two soldiers and a child aged 8, shot in her own house.

A few days later, in early October, The Pacific LNG, British Petroleum and Repsol YPF had forecast an investment of three billion dollars in Chilean territory, the sale price of the gas was less than a dollar per thousand BTU and the approximate profits were one billion dollars of which the Bolivian state only received 18%, totaling 180 million dollars per year.

A few days later, in early October, it was reported that Sánchez de Lozada had decided to export Bolivia's gas to Mexico and the United States through a Chilean port. Rancor continues to be high against Chile since Bolivia lost its coastal territory to them in the late-19th-century war of the Pacific. Protesters blockaded the main highway from the city of El Alto, Bolivia down to neighboring La Paz. A massive demonstration and virtual siege of La Paz ensued.

After three days, fuel and other essential supplies were dangerously low in La Paz. On 11 October, President Sánchez de Lozada promulgated Supreme Decree 27209, ordering the militarization of the gas plants and the transport of hydrocarbons. This decree was intended to protect private and public property, noting in the third article: "whatever harm to property or persons that might be produced as an effect of fulfilling the objective of this supreme decree shall be compensated and guaranteed by the State". As a result, fully armed military troops were sent as a security force to open the way for diesel and gasoline cisterns to be transported through densely populated poor neighborhoods into La Paz.

Protesters tried to block the convoys at several points along their route. Alteño residents reported that government troops started shooting indiscriminately, killing a five-year-old child and a pregnant mother. Sánchez de Lozada and some government ministers attributed the violence to an armed 'coup', but Evo Morales and some civil groups described it as a 'massacre' by government forces.

Vice-President Mesa publicly broke with Sánchez de Lozada, saying, "Neither as a citizen nor as a man of principles can I accept that, faced with popular pressure, the response should be death." The Minister for Economic Development also resigned. 20,000 Bolivians began to march on La Paz, demanding the President's resignation. Evo Morales' supporters from Cochabamba tried to march into Santa Cruz, the largest city of the eastern lowlands where support still remained for the president. They were turned back. While blaming the violence on 'narco-syndicalist', Sánchez de Lozada proposed a National Dialogue. He promised to put export plans to a national referendum, but demands for his resignation continued to rise. According to official figures, a total of 65 civilian deaths resulted from the Gas War, with around 400 persons wounded.

Faced with rising anger at the deaths, and with coalition partner Manfred Reyes Villa withdrawing political support, Sánchez de Lozada offered his resignation on 17 October in a letter to be read at an emergency session of Congress. He left on a commercially scheduled flight for the United States.

Trial of responsibility
In 2004, after a concerted campaign by the families of the victims, the government and human rights groups, who gathered over 700,000 signatures on petitions, two-thirds of Bolivia's Congress voted to authorize a "Trial of Responsibility" of the exiled president. It was intended to determine whether Sánchez de Lozada and his cabinet ministers should be held legally responsible for the violence of the Gas War. Supporters included many from the president's party, reflecting a broad consensus for an impartial investigation to understand the responsibilities for the violence and deaths.

The Attorney-General's office took testimony from twelve ministers, and carried out detailed preliminary investigations. Their work included forensic studies, crime scene investigations, and eyewitness testimony. Evo Morales, one of the key protest leaders, voluntarily offered evidence. In August 2011 the Bolivian Supreme Court sentenced five members of the military and two politicians to between three and fifteen years in prison for their role in the events of September and October 2003.

Attempts at extradition
On 11 November 2008, Bolivia formally served the U.S. government with a request to extradite Sánchez de Lozada to Bolivia. The request was rejected by the U.S. State Department in 2012, based on the argument that Sánchez de Lozada's actions are not a crime in the U.S., and that no dual criminality condition existed. It said that no U.S. President could be charged for crimes done by military and police forces.

Civil trial in the United States
On 10 November 2009, the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida ruled that the claims for charges of crimes against humanity against Sánchez de Lozada had no case. The court ruled that charges of extrajudicial killings could be pursued in order to allow two related U.S. cases to progress against former president Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada de Bustamante and former Bolivian Defense Minister Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín.

Eight families of Bolivians killed during the 2003 protests are plaintiffs in the case. They include Etelvina Ramos Mamani and Eloy Ramos Mamani, the parents of eight-year-old Marlene, who was killed by a gunshot through her window during the military action on Warisata on 25 September 2003.

The plaintiffs in the cases, Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez de Lozada, and Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzaín, seek compensatory and punitive damages under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). On 20 May 2014, Judge James Cohn ordered that Plaintiffs' claims under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) could proceed because they sufficiently alleged facts that "plausibly suggest that these killings were deliberate," and because they adequately alleged that Defendants were responsible for the killings. The case was stayed on 19 August 2014 pending defendants' appeal of the district court's decision. Appellants-defendants filed their brief to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on 14 January 2015. Plaintiffs-appellees filed their brief on 6 March 2015. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued their decision on 17 June 2016. On 17 April 2017, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari for the plaintiff's appeal, clearing the way for the case to be tried.

The jury trial for the combined cases against Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín began on 5 March 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They were both found liable for the civilian deaths by the jury on 3 April 2018 under the TVPA claim that the deaths were extrajudicial killings. The plaintiffs were awarded $10 million in damages. On 30 May 2018, federal judge overturned the verdict of a jury by determining that a reasonable jury could not find them liable as a matter of law.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs appealed the judge's decision, making oral arguments before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami in November 2019. On 3 August 2020, a three judge panel vacated the District Court's move to set aside the verdict, and ordered it to reconsider the matter on a new standard. It also ruled that plaintiffs were entitled to a new trial on the question of wrongful death, a matter the jury had decided in favor of the defendants. On 5 April 2021, the 2018 jury verdict, and the ordered $10 million payment, was reaffirmed by U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn after defense notions to dismiss the ruling were denied.

title: Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada


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Stairway to Heaven

"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band’s untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page with lyrics written by lead singer Robert Plant, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement, highlighted by Page's guitar solo and Plant's vocals, which ends with the plaintive a cappella line: "And she's buying a stairway to heaven".

"Stairway to Heaven" was voted number three in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the "100 Greatest Rock Songs", in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Stairway to Heaven" number 31 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States at the time, despite never having been commercially released as a single in the US. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership release, "Stairway to Heaven" reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.

Writing and recording
The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night". Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for "Stairway to Heaven" came together from bits of taped music. The first attempts at lyrics, written by Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then". Page was strumming the chords, and Plant had a pencil and paper.

Led Zeppelin began recording "Stairway to Heaven" in December 1970 at Island Records' new recording studios on Basing Street in London. The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971. Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo.

The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records, wanted to issue it as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. As a result, many people bought the fourth album as if it were the single.

Composition
"Stairway to Heaven" is described as progressive rock, folk rock, and hard rock. The song consists of three distinct sections, beginning with a quiet introduction on a finger-picked, six-string acoustic guitar and four recorders (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock final section (6:45–7:45), ending with a short vocals-only epilogue. Plant sings the opening, middle, and epilogue sections in his mid-vocal range; he sings the hard rock section in his higher range, which borders on falsetto.

Written in the key of A minor, the song opens with an arpeggiated, finger-picked guitar chord progression with a chromatic descending bassline A-G♯-G-F♯-F. Page used a Harmony Sovereign H1260 acoustic guitar and a Fender Electric XII 12-string electric guitar played directly into the board for the rhythm parts. John Paul Jones contributed overdubbed recorders (probably soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) in the opening section (he used a Mellotron and, later, a Yamaha CP-70B Grand Piano and Yamaha GX1 to synthesise this arrangement in live performances) and a Hohner Electra-Piano electric piano in the middle section.

The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1959 Fender Telecaster given to Page by Jeff Beck (an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds) plugged into a Supro amplifier, although in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine, Page said, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember". Three different improvised solos were recorded, with Page agonising about which to keep. Page later revealed, "I did have the first phrase worked out, and then there was the link phrase. I did check them out beforehand before the tape ran." He has likened the song to an orgasm. The Am–G–F–G chord sequence in the third section of the song, centred on A minor, is typical of a chord progression in the Aeolian mode.

Personnel
According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:

 * Robert Plant – vocals
 * Jimmy Page – acoustic guitars (six-string and twelve-string), electric guitars
 * John Paul Jones – bass, electric piano, recorders
 * John Bonham – drums

Live performances
The inaugural public performance of the song took place at Belfast's Ulster Hall on 5 March 1971. Bassist John Paul Jones recalls that the crowd was unimpressed: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew."

The world radio premiere of "Stairway to Heaven" was recorded at the Paris Cinema on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC. The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980, which was also their last full-length concert until 10 December 2007 at London's O2 Arena; the version was the longest, lasting almost 15 minutes, including a seven-minute guitar solo.

When playing the song live, the band would often extend it to over 10 minutes, with Page playing an extended guitar solo and Plant adding a number of lyrical ad-libs, such as "Does anybody remember laughter?", "And I think you can see that", "wait a minute!" and "I hope so". For performing this song live, Page used a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck guitar so that he would not have to pause when switching from a six to a 12-string guitar, while John Paul Jones utilized a Mellotron to replicate the sound of the woodwind instruments he used on the studio recording.

By 1975, the song had a regular place as the finale of every Led Zeppelin concert. However, after their concert tour of the United States in 1977, Plant began to tire of "Stairway to Heaven": "There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it... It just became sanctimonious."

The song was played again by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the Live Aid concert in 1985; at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham on drums; and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.

The first few bars were played alone during Page and Plant tours in lieu of the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", and in November 1994 Page and Plant performed an acoustic version of the song at a Tokyo news station for Japanese television. "Stairway to Heaven" was also performed at Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O2 Arena, London on 10 December 2007.

Plant cites the most unusual performance of the song ever as being that performed at Live Aid: "with two drummers (Phil Collins and Tony Thompson) while Duran Duran cried at the side of the stage – there was something quite surreal about that."

Sunset Sound mix
A different version of this song by Led Zeppelin is featured on the remastered deluxe two-CD version of Led Zeppelin IV. Titled "Stairway to Heaven (Sunset Sound Mix)", it was recorded on 5 December 1970, at Island Studio, No. 1, in London with engineer Andy Johns and assistant engineer Diggs. This version runs 8:04, while the original version runs 8:02.

Success and legacy
"Stairway to Heaven" is often rated among the greatest rock songs of all time. According to music journalist Stephen Davis, although the song was released in 1971, it took until 1973 before the song's popularity ascended to truly "anthemic" status. As Page recalled, "I knew it was good. I didn't know it was going to become like an anthem, but I did know it was the gem of the album, sure."

"Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, including a 2006 Guitar World readers poll of greatest guitar solos. On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via US radio sources that the song had logged up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays. As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times. In 1990, a Tampa Bay area, Florida station (then WKRL) kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight. It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly. In total, over one million copies have been sold.

Despite pressure from Atlantic Records, the band would not authorise the editing of the song for single release. Page told Rolling Stone in 1975, "We were careful to never release it as a single", which forced buyers to buy the entire album.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and was re-ranked at number 61 in 2021. An article from 29 January 2009 Guitar World magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo at number one in the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History.

In 2001, the New York City-based classic rock radio station WAXQ conducted a listener survey to create a countdown of 1,043 rock songs (the number corresponding with the station's position on the dial at 104.3 FM). "Stairway To Heaven" garnered the most votes from listeners. WAXQ has conducted the survey annually since then; in each subsequent countdown that has followed, including the most recent in November 2023, "Stairway To Heaven" has been the top-ranked song.

Plant once gave $10,000 to listener-supported radio station KBOO in Portland, Oregon during a pledge drive after the disc jockey solicited donations by promising the station would never play "Stairway to Heaven". Plant was station-surfing in a rental car he was driving to the Oregon Coast after a solo performance in Portland and was impressed with the non-mainstream music the station presented. When asked later for the reason why, Plant replied that it wasn't that he didn't like the song, but he'd heard it before.

"Stairway to Heaven" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023, based on its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage."

Spirit copyright infringement lawsuit
Page's opening acoustic guitar arpeggios bear a resemblance to the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the Los Angeles-based rock band Spirit, written by Spirit guitarist Randy California. In the liner notes to the 1996 reissue of Spirit's self-titled debut album, California wrote: "People always ask me why 'Stairway to Heaven' sounds exactly like 'Taurus', which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played 'Fresh Garbage' in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour."

In May 2014, Spirit bassist Mark Andes and a trust acting on behalf of California filed a copyright infringement suit against Led Zeppelin and injunction against the "release of the album containing the song" in an attempt to obtain a writing credit for California, who died in 1997. A lack of resources was cited as one of the reasons that Spirit did not file the suit earlier; according to a friend of California's mother, "Nobody had any money, and they thought the statute of limitations was done... It will be nice if Randy got the credit." If the Spirit lawsuit had been successful, past earnings due to the song—estimated at more than US$550 million—would not have been part of the settlement, but the publisher and composers might have been entitled to a share of future profits.

On 11 April 2016, Los Angeles district judge Gary Klausner ruled that there were enough similarities between the song and the instrumental for a jury to decide the claim, and a trial was scheduled for 10 May. The copyright infringement action was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late guitarist, whose legal name was Randy Wolfe. On 23 June, the jury ruled that the similarities between the songs did not amount to copyright infringement. In July, Skidmore's attorney filed a notice of appeal against the court's decision. In March 2017, the verdict was appealed, with a main argument being that the jury should have been able to hear a recorded version of "Taurus". On 28 September 2018, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit allowed the appeal, vacating in part and remanding to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for a new trial on several evidentiary and procedural issues. On 10 June 2019, the Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc, meaning the case would be reheard by a larger panel of eleven judges.

A Bloomberg Businessweek article shortly after that decision noted that a Ninth Circuit judge's interpretation of the laws implied that key elements of many classic rock songs, including "Stairway to Heaven", that were recorded prior to 1978 were not protected by copyright to begin with. The panel declared that the scope of copyright for those songs is limited to what was included in the deposit copy of the song's sheet music provided to the Copyright Office; at trial Page had testified that the deposit copy included neither the intro that was under dispute nor his guitar solo. Bloomberg reporter Vernon Silver found that the deposit copies of other classic rock songs from that era, such as "Hotel California", "Born to Run" and "Free Bird", include only the song's basic chords, lyrics and melody, without any solos or other distinctive musical touches. Copyright law experts could not say whether those elements are copyrighted or not; Led Zeppelin's lawyers have argued they are even if not included in the deposit copy. Silver made an electronic mashup of several of these elements from different songs and included it with the article.

On 9 March 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California, ruled in favor of Led Zeppelin, in that "Stairway to Heaven" does not infringe on the copyright of "Taurus". The full Ninth Circuit used their decision to overturn the controversial "inverse ratio rule" upon which it had relied over the past several decades in past copyright rulings, stating "Because the inverse ratio rule, which is not part of the copyright statute, defies logic, and creates uncertainty for the courts and the parties, we take this opportunity to abrogate the rule in the Ninth Circuit and overrule our prior cases to the contrary." This verdict immediately applied to pending cases within the Ninth: a long battle over Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" in which a jury had found against her for US$2.8 million was overturned a week after the Ninth's verdict in "Stairway to Heaven", in part of the Ninth's new finding and that in the case of "Dark Horse", the similarity argument weighed heavily on the inverse ratio rule. On 5 October, the Supreme Court of the United States denied to grant certiorari to Andes and the trust, leaving the Ninth's circuit ruling in place in favour of Led Zeppelin. The court's decision precludes further appeals, thus ending the copyright dispute.

Claims of backmasking
In a January 1982 broadcast of the Trinity Broadcasting Network television program Praise the Lord hosted by Paul Crouch, it was claimed that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backmasking. One example of such hidden messages that was prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven". The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") when played backward, was purported to contain the Satanic references: "Here's to my sweet Satan / The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan, / He'll give you, he'll give you 666 / There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan."

Following the claims made in the television program, California assemblyman Phil Wyman proposed a state law that would require warning labels on records containing backmasking. In April 1982, the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly held a hearing on backmasking in popular music, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backward and self-described "neuroscientific researcher" William Yarroll claimed that the human brain could decipher backward messages.

The band itself has mostly ignored such claims. Swan Song Records responded to the allegations by stating: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin audio engineer Eddie Kramer called the allegations "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they want to spend so much studio time doing something so dumb?" Robert Plant expressed frustration with the accusations in a 1983 interview in Musician magazine: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."

Accolades
(*) designates unordered lists.

Digital download
Note: The official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Stairway to Heaven


text:
Cerebus the Aardvark

Cerebus (also Cerebus the Aardvark) is a comic book series, created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on a number of roles throughout the series—barbarian, prime minister, and pope among them. The series stands out for its experimentation in form and content, and for the dexterity of its artwork, especially after background artist Gerhard joined with the 65th issue. As the series progressed, it increasingly became a platform for Sim's controversial beliefs.

The comic began as a parody of sword and sorcery comics, primarily Marvel's version of Conan the Barbarian. However, it evolved to explore a variety of other topics, including politics, religion, and gender issues. At a total of 6,000 pages, it progressively became more serious and ambitious than its parodic roots. Sim announced early on that the series would end with the death of the title character. The story has a large cast of characters, many of which began as parodies of characters from comic books and popular culture.

Starting with the "High Society" storyline, the series became divided into self-contained "novels", which form parts of the overall story. The ten "novels" of the series have been collected in 16 books, known as "Cerebus phonebooks" for their resemblance, by way of their thickness, to telephone directories. At a time when the series was about 70% completed, celebrated comic book writer Alan Moore wrote: "Cerebus, as if I need to say so, is still to comic books what Hydrogen is to the Periodic Table".

Publication history
Cerebus was self-published by Dave Sim under his Aardvark-Vanaheim, Inc. publishing banner. For the first few years the company's publisher was Deni Loubert, Sim's girlfriend (the two married and divorced during the comic's run). Sim's position as a pioneering self-publisher in comics inspired numerous writer/artists after him, most notably Jeff Smith (Bone), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), and Martin Wagner (Hepcats).

In 1979, Sim, who was at the time a frequent marijuana user, began using LSD, taking the drug with such frequency that he was eventually hospitalized. It was this incident that Sim claims led to the inspiration to produce Cerebus for 300 monthly issues.

When Sim published the first Cerebus "phone book", a paperback collection of the High Society graphic novel (Issues #26–#50), he angered distributors—who felt that their support had been instrumental in his series' success in an industry generally indifferent to small publishers—by offering the first printing via mail order only. The decision was a financial windfall for Sim, however, grossing over $150,000 in sales. Sim became known for picking up hotel tabs for self-publishers and helping other self-publishers by paying for meals and limo service between stops. Negotiations regarding DC buying Cerebus took place over the course of 1985 to 1988, offering $100,000 ($ today) and 10% of all licensing and merchandising, which Sim rejected.

The series hit a personal sales record with Issue #100 which, despite being a normal issue in the middle of a story arc, had a print run of 36,000 copies. Sales took a substantial drop over the next 50 issues, however, and Sim commented that the fact that readers could not simply "jump in" to Cerebus, and had to read the entire series in order to be able to understand the current issue, was a major reason for the sales drop.

In July 1984, Cerebus publisher Aardvark-Vanaheim was threatened with possible legal action by Marvel Comics over a parody of Wolverine in Cerebus.

When Sim guest-wrote the 10th issue of Todd McFarlane's comics series Spawn, he donated his entire fee—over $100,000—to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

"Jaka's Story", a tragic character study dealing with gender roles and the political suppression of art, is generally cited as the series' pinnacle of narrative achievement. Later issues of the series became highly personal, and began to alienate many long-time fans, female readers especially. Issue #186 (collected in Reads) contained a lengthy prose section that was attacked by some readers and critics for what they perceived as overt misogyny, and which Sim describes as "anti-feminism". During this part of the story, the storyline consisted of a textual treatise written by Viktor Davis, a fictional "Reads" author, interspersed with the main Cerebus storyline. In Davis's material, he refers to the "creative male light" and the "emotional female void", a reversal of the gender-based view of creation espoused by the Judge at the end of Church and State (in which the "female light" is raped by the "male void" and shatters into the physical universe). As Sim himself says in an interview with The Comics Journal, "Cerebus #1–200 [is] the completion of the story. The yin and yang. The ultra-female reading. The ultra-male reading. I'm attaching an allegory to the Big Bang. You make up your mind which one's the pit and which one's the top of the mountain." By the end of the series, the Void is again male and identified as God, and the Light is female, now identified with YHWH. Issue #186 was followed by another essay in the back of Issue #265 called "Tangent", in which Sim identified a "feminist/homosexualist axis" that opposed traditional and rational societal values. This material appeared as Sim was retreating from public life and becoming more marginalized by his peers in the industry.

Sim himself appeared as a character in Cerebus, as when he berated the title character in the "Minds" story arc.

Sim's religious beliefs heavily influenced the last third of Cerebus storyline. Once an atheist, Sim became a believer in God while gathering research material for "Rick's Story". However, rather than following an established religion, Sim follows his own personal belief system cobbled together from elements of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, although he described himself in Issue #8 of Following Cerebus as "mostly Muslim". A 2003 magazine interview describes Sim as reciting a prayer of his own devising five times a day (which was published in the back of Issue #300), and as having sold much of his furniture to donate the money to charity as an act of religious asceticism. In an editorial contained in Issue #297, Sim stated that he regards the production of Cerebus as of secondary importance to his religious practice. Sim's religious beliefs tie into his views on gender, and the bulk of the Cerebus storyline after "Guys" deals with this, especially "Rick's Story", "Latter Days", and "The Last Day".

A quarterly publication, Following Cerebus, followed in August 2004, featuring correspondence, essays, and previously unpublished artwork from Sim, as well as interviews with other comic writers and artists.

Sim was rumored to have said that had he died or otherwise chosen not to complete Cerebus prior to Issue #300, the remaining issues were to either consist of blank pages or Gerhard was to have drawn his backgrounds only, leaving Sim's contribution blank. It is not known if this plan was ever serious, since it was never put into effect. At the completion of the series, Sim directed that upon his and Gerhard's death, Cerebus would enter into the public domain. Effective 31 December 2006, Sim purchased Gerhard's share of the company. Sim has already granted a general license for other creators to use his characters in their own works, stating that he is trying to be consistent with his own appropriation of others' works.

In early 2009, Sim launched the bimonthly series Cerebus Archive. It was translated into Italian; and in 2011, Church and State Vol. I was published in Spanish.

Cerebus
Issues #1–25.

This first story arc, uniquely in this series, consists of one to three-issue storylines with only occasional back-references. Cerebus is introduced as an amoral barbarian mercenary, fighting (and betraying) for money and drinking it away. During his adventures, he encounters the warrior Pigts (whose religion reveres aardvarks) and the insane wizard Necross, who turns himself into a giant stone Thrunk (visually similar to Marvel Comics' The Thing). Most of the series' prominent characters are introduced (or at least mentioned) in these issues, including Elrod of Melvinbone (a parodic representation of Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné), Lord Julius, a character based upon Julius "Groucho" Marx, Artemis Roach (a.k.a. The Roach, who would evolve into an all-purpose parody of Marvel and DC superhero characters) and Jaka. The series takes a sharp change in direction with Issue #20 which is the first of the "Mind Games" issues that are a feature of the comic and introduces the philosophical Suenteus Po and the ultra-matriarchial Cirinists.

High Society
Issues #26–50.

Cerebus comes to the wealthy city-state of Iest as the representative of Lord Julius's city-state of Palnu. He quickly finds himself enmeshed in the fast-paced world of high finance and politics, and comic tension is built through his ignorance of the "high society" machinations going on around him. Cerebus is befriended by the legendary Regency Elf as he adjusts to his new circumstances. He meets and soon finds himself maneuvered into a political campaign by the mysterious Astoria, who is also manipulating Artemis into pseudo-super hero identities that are parodies of Moon Knight and later Sergeant Preston of the Mounties. Cerebus recognizes that he is a pawn in a political game between Lord Julius and Astoria, but he struggles to assert himself and ultimately confounds the expectations of everyone attempting to use him. Cerebus is eventually elected Prime Minister of Iest, but launches an unnecessary war of conquest that causes him to lose everything.

Church & State I
Issues #52–80.

After some travels, Cerebus returns to Iest and is manipulated by Weisshaupt, who wants to use Cerebus's popularity with the masses, into again becoming Prime Minister of Iest. Weisshaupt has maneuvered himself into the tenuous presidency of a federation of states (including Iest, Palnu and New Sepra) as a bulwark against the Cirinists. Weisshaupt lures Cerebus into a drunken marriage to Red Sophia, but ultimately loses his influence over Cerebus when Weisshaupt's rival, Bishop Powers, appoints Cerebus Pope of the Eastern Church of Tarim. Finally out from under anyone else's control, Cerebus lets absolute power go to his head and demands that all the citizens must give him all their gold or face the end of the world. Sophia walks out on Cerebus, and then he discovers that Jaka is married and pregnant. Cerebus is threatened by Weisshaupt's secret invention of cannons, but Weisshaupt suffers a heart attack and Cerebus continues his papal reign of terror. He is finally ejected from the Upper City by the sudden invasion of the giant stone Thrunk, who claims to be the God Tarim.

Church & State II
Issues #81–111.

Cerebus returns to Iest's Upper City and uses Weisshaupt's cannons to destroy Thrunk and reclaim the papacy. Astoria has mysteriously killed the Western pope ("the Lion of Serrea"), and Cerebus must execute her for the crime in order to retain his papacy. Cerebus confronts her in a dungeon, and after being taunted by Astoria, he grants himself a divorce from Red Sophia, marries himself to Astoria, rapes her, and then divorces himself from her. Astoria's trial, which echoes with similarities to a repeating pattern of historical executions of reformers, is interrupted when Cerebus makes the predicted Ascension to the Moon that is the culmination of the land's religious prophecy. There, Cerebus meets the Judge, a timeless, godlike being who has watched over history from the very beginning. (Sim had based the personality of this character on cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer.) The Judge explains his version of the creation myth of Cerebus's universe, before warning Cerebus that he will live only a few more years before dying "alone, unmourned and unloved". The Judge tells Cerebus that if the Aardvark ever questions his suffering, he should remember his "second marriage" to Astoria. Cerebus then falls back to earth, where he discovers that the Cirinists have invaded, and his empire has collapsed.

Jaka's Story
Issues #114–136.

Cerebus returns to Iest, now under a brutal Cirinist dictatorship, and runs into Jaka again. She is illegally working as a dancer in her landlord's tavern. The landlord/barman, Pud, treats Jaka kindly but secretly spends his days lusting after her. Cerebus agrees to live with Jaka and her husband Rick as their houseguest. That story is interwoven with unreliable tales of Jaka's childhood told by a writer, representing Oscar Wilde, using notes and stories provided by Rick. In the end Cerebus disguises himself and travels to the Lower City to buy a jar of paint. While he is gone, the Cirinists find the tavern, kill Pud and arrest Jaka, Rick, and Oscar. Jaka is made to sign a confession of immoral behavior, and is reunited with Rick; however, the Cirinists reveal to Rick that Jaka aborted the son that Rick always wanted. He lashes out at Jaka and is allowed to divorce her (although he is maimed for striking her). Jaka returns to Palnu, and Cerebus returns to the inn to find it in ruins.

Melmoth
Issues #139–150. This story arc concentrates on the last days and death of Oscar Wilde (who is attended to by his trusted companion Robbie Ross) rather than on Cerebus himself, who appears in only a few pages. (The title refers to the gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin, a relative of Wilde's. Wilde adopted this alias during this period of his life.) Meanwhile, a catatonic Cerebus, believing Jaka to be dead, spends his days mourning on the patio of a café. In the last few pages of the story, after the main action had concluded, Cerebus overhears a conversation by two Cirinist jailers insulting Jaka. Enraged, Cerebus murders one of the guards and then springs into action.

Flight
Issues #151–162.

First part of the "Mothers & Daughters" story arc. Cerebus's return to Iest and slaughter of Cirinsts leads to a very brief failed revolution. Cerebus descends into darkness and speaks with Suenteus Po. Meanwhile, Cirin works to manage her sect and arrange her own Ascension. Artemis, with Elrod as his sidekick, also stages his own impromptu revolution under his new persona "PunisherRoach", a parody of the Marvel comics character the Punisher.

Women
Issues #163–174.

Second part of the story-arc "Mothers & Daughters". Cerebus crashes back to earth. He is assisted by a mysterious old woman who is being openly spied upon by the Cirinists; she sends him to a bar to hide. This story arc includes a parody of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman in which the Roach plays "Swoon" (a parody of Dream) and Elrod plays "Snuff" (a trans person parody of Death). Astoria and Cirin symbolically duel in a dream realm. The book includes excerpts from books written by Astoria and Cirin that describe their differing beliefs. Cerebus flies across the city to slay Astoria, but is interrupted by the arrival of Suenteus Po.

Reads
Issues #175–186.

Third part of the "Mothers & Daughters" story arc. This book primarily consists of two long text pieces. The first revolves around an author of Reads, heavily illustrated books in Cerebus's world. In this story, there is a strong thread about the dangers of commercial success and "selling out". The series moves from this storyline to a long essay attributed to Viktor Davis, a fictional Reads author. This essay puts forth a theory on the nature of the sexes, describing the "Female Void" focused on feeling, and the "Male Light" focused on reason. These two stories are accompanied by a long discussion between Cirin, Astoria, Cerebus, and Suenteus Po. Po gives information about aardvarks, including that all aardvarks have Cerebus's "magnifier" quality, and attempts to convince each of the others to abandon their pursuits of power and return to what they enjoy doing most, then leaves them to their fates. Astoria is convinced and also leaves, but not before giving Cerebus information about her history with Cirin and also informing him of his hermaphrodite nature. Cerebus and Cirin then engage in a long and brutal fight, which leads to the beginning of another ascension.

Minds
Issue #187–200.

Fourth and concluding part of the "Mothers & Daughters" story arc. Cerebus and Cirin ascend, then are separated by a mysterious force. As Cerebus flies through the solar system, he is shown images from his past and is forced to reconsider his actions and his faith. He then encounters a disembodied voice calling itself "Dave" that acknowledges itself as Cerebus's creator. "Dave" shows Cerebus the history of the Cirinist movement, revealing that Cirin is actually named Serna and was the best friend of the real Cirin (the old woman Cerebus encountered in Women), but usurped Cirin's leadership and effectively exchanged identities with her. "Dave" then gives Cerebus information about his past, showing that Cerebus unwittingly ruined his original destiny, causing chaotic repercussions which have influenced most of his adventures. Cerebus demands that "Dave" make Jaka love him; in response, "Dave" shows Cerebus visions of possible futures between himself and Jaka, all of which are disastrously flawed for both of them due to Cerebus's nature. After a period of penance and self-reflection on Pluto, Cerebus asks "Dave" to place him in a bar he remembers from his mercenary days.

Guys
Issues #201–219.

Cerebus spends time, and eventually becomes bartender, in one of the Cirinists' bars where "degenerate" men are essentially quarantined from the female citizens. Described in the trade paperback's introduction as based on a bar that Sim frequented during a near-alcoholic stint between relationships, the series features various parodic characters who come and go while Cerebus remains stationary. Cerebus begins a somewhat reluctant relationship with a woman named Joanne, who was first introduced in one of the possible futures with Jaka that "Dave" showed Cerebus in Minds.

Rick's Story
Issues #220–231.

Eventually Jaka's ex-husband Rick arrives at the bar. He has significantly aged, become a heavy drinker (having barely been able to tolerate alcohol in "Jaka's Story"), and it is gradually revealed that the mental and emotional scars from the events at the end of "Jaka's Story" have left him mildly insane. Rick is working on a book about his life, which gradually becomes a religious work in which Cerebus is a holy figure and Rick his follower. Joanne returns and taunts Cerebus by courting Rick. At the end of the book, Rick departs, for reasons not entirely clear, and tells Cerebus that he will see Rick only once more in his life. After Rick has left, Jaka shows up at the bar, and she and Cerebus depart together, heading for Cerebus's childhood home of Sand Hills Creek.

Going Home
Issues #232–250.

First part of the "Going Home" story arc. Cerebus and Jaka travel across land, then on a river boat. Cerebus is eager to make as much time as possible, as he fears being trapped in the mountains near Sand Hills Creek by winter, but instead he indulges Jaka's desire for shopping and public appearances. Along the way, they encounter veiled hostility from the Cirinists. Cerebus and Jaka's relationship begins to show signs of deterioration, and Jaka is almost tempted away by F. Stop Kennedy (a fictional version of F. Scott Fitzgerald), a writer who has accompanied them on their river boat.

Form & Void
Issues #251–265.

Second and concluding part of the story arc "Going Home". Cerebus and Jaka continue their journey towards Sand Hills Creek, in the company of Ham and Mary Ernestway, analogues to Ernest Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary. On the trip, Mary tells them about some of her and Ham's journeys. This material is based on Mary Hemingway's journals about Ernest's last African safaris prior to his death. Ham dies in what appears to be suicide, but Cerebus becomes convinced Mary murdered him and flees in panic, taking Jaka with him. They discover that they have been traveling in circles without making any significant progress toward Sand Hills Creek, and nearly die in a blizzard. They finally arrive in Sand Hills Creek only to find that Cerebus's parents are dead and the rest of the community has shunned Cerebus for his perceived abandonment of his family. Cerebus drives Jaka away, blaming her for keeping him away too long.

Latter Days
Issues #266–288.

First part of the story arc "Latter Days". After a prodigious leap in time over two issues, Cerebus returns from the north intent on provoking the Cirinists into killing him. Instead, he is captured by a trio of characters based on the Three Stooges, who await a religious revelation from him. While Cerebus was in the north, a religious movement developed out of the teachings of Rick and his writings about Cerebus. Once Cerebus supplies the required revelation, he inspires a successful anti-Cirinist rebellion and a subsequent reordering of society. Much of the second half of this chapter consists of Cerebus giving a highly idiosyncratic analysis of the Torah. Published over the course of nearly a year, this section, called "Chasing YHWH", was presented almost entirely in text format, with minimal art. This story arc is unusual in that disembodied thought balloons give the impression that Cerebus is speaking directly to the reader at times. It is revealed in the last issue of the arc that Cerebus has been talking to a female reporter who bears a striking resemblance to Jaka. He eventually falls in love with the woman and marries her.

The Last Day
Issues #289–300.

The second and concluding part of "Latter Days", and the conclusion of the series as a whole. In the first 40 pages Cerebus has a dream or vision in which cosmology is seen as a reflection of theology, complete with explanatory footnotes by Sim. Upon waking Cerebus—now incredibly aged, decrepit, pain-wracked, and mildly senile—makes the laborious trek to his writing desk to write down his new revelation. He then hides the manuscript, and it is implied that nobody will find it for two thousand years.

Cerebus spends most of the rest of the book trying to persuade his chief of security, Walter O'Reilly (named after Corporal Walter (Radar) O'Reilly from M*A*S*H), to admit his son, Shep-Shep, with whom he remembers sharing an idyllic father–son relationship. However, the Sanctuary is under lockdown due to opposition from a new and even more rabidly "feminist-homosexualist" group led by Shep-Shep's mother, whom Cerebus refers to as "New Joanne", which favors such "rights" as pedophilia, zoophilia, juvenile recreational drug use and lesbian motherhood. As a result, social values have undergone a complete breakdown.

Cerebus finally goes to bed despairing of seeing his son again, but Shep-Shep manages to sneak into Cerebus's room late that night. Their subsequent conversation shatters Cerebus's last illusions about his son. Shep-Shep has aligned himself with his mother, who has been conducting genetic engineering experiments, partly with knowledge gained from Cirin's earlier experimentation. Cerebus is disgusted and horrified when Shep-Shep shows him the results of one of the experiments, a lion cub with a human baby's head, and explains his mother's plans.

As Shep-Shep leaves, Cerebus grabs a knife, intending to kill him, but falls out of bed and breaks his neck. He dies alone, unmourned, and unloved, just as the Judge had predicted. His life flashes before his eyes in a series of flashback panels and his ghost sees many of his old friends and enemies waiting for him in "the Light". Jaka, Bear, and Ham beckon to him, and he eagerly rushes to join them, thinking they are in Heaven, but then he notices the absence of Rick and realizes that the Light may in fact be Hell. He calls out to God for help, but is dragged into the Light nonetheless.

Comics Buyer's Guide

 * "Silverspoon", Prince Valiant comic strip parody, 11 pages published weekly in Comics Buyer's Guide, reprinted in Swords of Cerebus Vol. 4 and in the Cerebus "phone book" from 11th printing on

Swords of Cerebus
Each of the six issues includes one or two Cerebus stories not all of which are included in the "phone books".

Swords of Cerebus Vol. 1, January 1981 Swords of Cerebus Vol. 2, June 1981 Swords of Cerebus Vol. 3, Fall 1981 Swords of Cerebus Vol. 4, Fall 1982 Swords of Cerebus Vol 5, Summer 1983 Swords of Cerebus Vol 6, Fall 1984
 * "The Name of the Game Is Diamondback", 7 pages, layouts by Marshall Rogers, story and art by Sim, January 1981
 * "Demonhorn" (first appeared in Nucleus #1), 5 pages, story and art by Sim
 * "The Morning After", 6 pages, inks by Josef Rubinstein
 * "What Happened Between Issues #20 and #21", 8 pages
 * "Magiking", 10 pages
 * "Silverspoon", (first appeared in Comics Buyer's Guide), 11 pages,
 * "Cerebus Dreams", written and drawn by Barry Windsor Smith
 * "A Night on the Town"

All of the stories above except "Demonhorn" were reprinted in "Cerebus World Tour Book 1995"

Epic Illustrated

 * "His First Fifth", 9 color pages, October 1984
 * "A Friendly Reminder", 3 color pages, February 1985
 * "Selling Insurance", 2 color pages, June 1985
 * "The Girl Next Door", 3 color pages, June 1985

AV in 3D

 * "Cerebus Dreams II", 4 3D pages, December 1984

Cerebus Jam #1, April 1986

 * "The Defense of Fort Columbia", by Sim, Gerhard, Scott and Bo Hampton, 6 pages
 * "The First Invention of Armour, 1404" by Sim, Gerhard, and Murphy Anderson, 6 pages
 * "Squinteye the Sailor" by Sim, Gerhard, and Terry Austin, 5 pages
 * "Cerebus versus the Spirit", Sim, Gerhard, and Will Eisner, 4 pages

Anything Goes!

 * "Breaking Up is Hard to Do", 3 color pages plus cover, March 1986

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8

 * "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Cerebus the Aardvark", by Eastman, Laird, Sim and Gerhard, 43 pages plus cover, 1986

Spawn
Spawn #10, May 1993
 * "Crossing Over", 22 color pages plus cover, story by Sim, art by Todd McFarlane

Glamourpuss
The March 2011 (incorrectly dated March 2010 on the reverse cover) issue of Glamourpuss #18, written and drawn by Sim

 * "What if Cerebus had lived in the age of Mad Men", 10 pages.

Cerebus in Hell?
In 2017, Sim started publishing a new series, Cerebus in Hell?, with issues #0 and #1 through #4. Cerebus, having died in Cerebus #300, is now in what appears to be Hell, wandering—and, as usual, badmouthing—his way, with art by Gustave Doré swiped from that artist's famous illustrations for Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Small pictures of Cerebus, copied from the Cerebus comic book, with only a few poses repeated throughout, are added to the art.

Cerebus #1s
Starting in August 2017, Dave Sim began to write and publish a series of monthly comic books, all numbered "#1", and all satires of various classic comic books. The first, Batvark #1, is a satire of Batman #1, the second, Aardvark Comics #1, a satire of Action Comics #1. As with Cerebus in Hell, the artwork is by Gustave Doré with small pictures of Cerebus added.

'''Cerebus in Hell? Presents'''

 * #1 Cerebus in Hell? No. 0, November 2016
 * #2 Cerebus in Hell? No. 1 (1/4), January 2017
 * #3 Cerebus in Hell? No. 2 (2/4), February 2017
 * #4 Cerebus in Hell? No. 3 (3/4), March 2017
 * #5 Cerebus in Hell? No. 4 (4/4), April 2017
 * #6 Batvark #1, August 2017
 * #7 Aardvark Comics #1, September 2017
 * #8 Strange Cerebus #1, October 2017
 * #9 Death of Cerebus in Hell #1, November 2017
 * #10 Cerebus: The Vark Knight Returns #1, December 2017
 * #11 Watchvark #1, January 2018
 * #12 The Amazing Cerebus #1, February 2018
 * #13 World's Finite Cerebus #1, March 2018
 * #14 Love and Aardvarks #1, April 2018
 * #15 The Undateable Cerebus #1, May 2018
 * #16 The Un-Bedable Vark #1, June 2018
 * #17 Teenage Mutant Ninja Cerebi #1, July 2018
 * #18 Nick Calm, Agent of C.O.D.P.I.E.C.E. #1, August 2018
 * #19 Crisis of Infinite Cerebi #1, September 19, 2018
 * #20 The League of Extraordinary Cerebi #1, October 2018
 * #21 Cerberus in Hell? #1, November 2018
 * #22 Canadian Vark! #1, December 2018
 * #23 Giant-Size Jingles #1, January 2019
 * #24 Cerebus the Aardvark In: Sim City - A Dave to Kill For #1, February 2019
 * #25 Cerebus the Aardvark In: Sim City - That Issue After #1 / Teenage Money-Nabbing Cerebi #0, March 2019
 * #26 Super Cerebus Annual #1, April 2019
 * #27 Cerebus Woman #1, May 2019
 * #28 LGBTQ etc. People #1, June 2019
 * #29 Fornicators inc. #1, July 2019
 * #30 Tales of Sophistication #1, August 2019
 * #31 The Iron Manticore #1, September 2019
 * #32 Colour Your Own Cerebus in Hell? #1, October 2019
 * #33 Vark Wars #1, November 2019
 * #34 Vark Thing #1, December 2019
 * #35 The House of Cerebus #1, January 2020
 * #36 The Silver Cerebus #1, February 2020
 * #37 The Varking Dead #1, March 2020
 * #38 Green Dante/Green Virgil #1, April 2020
 * #39 Vark Wars: Walt's Empire Strikes Back #1, May 2020
 * #40 Attractive Cousins #1, July 2020
 * #41 The Amicable Spider-Vark Annual #1, August 2020
 * #42 Batvark Penis #1, September 2020
 * #42 Batvark Penis #1 Virgin Cover Variant, September 2020
 * #42 Batvark XXXXX #1 , September 2020
 * #42 Batvark XXXXX #1  (Second Printing), January 2021
 * #43 The Vault of Cerebus #1, Octoberish 2020
 * #44 Spider-Whore #1, November 2020
 * #45 Hermann #1, December 2020
 * #45 Hermann #1 Virgin Cover Variant, December 2020
 * #46 Cerebus in Hell? 2021 #1, January 2021
 * #47 The Amazing Batvark #1, February 2021
 * #48 Flaming Cerebus Comics #1, March 2021
 * #49 Cerebus The Duck #1, April 2021
 * #50 Baby Yoda Cerebus #1, May 2021
 * #51 Strangers in Cerebus #1, June 2021
 * #52 The Unethical Spider-Vark #1, July 2021
 * #53 Crisis In Infinite Quarantine #1, August 2021
 * #54 Batvark: Coronavirus - There Are No Comics #1, September 2021
 * #54 Batvark: Coronavirus - While Diamond Slept: 2020 #1, September 2021
 * #55 Super-Cerebus VS. Covid-19 #1, October 2021
 * #55 Super-Cerebus VS. Covid-19 #1 Wraparound Cover Variant, October 2021
 * #56 The League of Extraordinary Corona #1, November 2021
 * #57 Coronavirus Book #1, December 2021
 * #58 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #58 Cerebus in Hell? 2022 #1, January 2022
 * #59 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #59 Defective Comics Annual #1, February 2022
 * #60 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #60 Cerebus the Emily #1, March 2022
 * #60 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #60 Cerebus the Emily #1 Harpies' Bizzaarre Variant, March 2022
 * #61 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #61 Batvark: A Poet in the Family #1, April 2022
 * #61 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #61 Batvark: A Poet in the Family #1 Batvark-Girl Variant, April 2022
 * #62 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #62 Grey A.L.@. #1, May 2022
 * #63 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #63 Giant-Size Public Defenders #1, June 2022
 * #63 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #63 Giant-Size Public Defender: Varkdevil Variant #1, June 2022
 * #64 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #64 The Uncrucifiable Cerebus Goes To A Gay Bar #1, July 2022
 * #65 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #65 Kurtz VZ Kurtz #1, August 2022
 * #66 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #66 Flailing at Love #1, September 2022
 * #67 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #67 Hell 'O Dali #1, October 2022
 * #68 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #68 BTVRK #1, November 2022
 * #69 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #69 Giant-Size Aardvark Vanaheim Three-Wheeler Long-Winded Title Logo Annual #1, December 2022
 * #70 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #70 Cerebus in Hell? 2023 #1, January 2023
 * #71 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #71 Cancel America Comics #1, February 2023
 * #72 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #72 AV Team-Up #1, March 2023
 * #73 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #73 New Varks #1, April 2023
 * #74 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #74 Aversions #1, May 2023
 * #75 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #75 She-Aversions #1, June 2023
 * #76 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #76 War In Hell? #1, July 2023
 * #77 Cerebus in Hell? Presents #77 Aardvarkian Splendor #1, August 2023

Cerebus
Cerebus is a misanthropic, amoral, anthropomorphic 3 ft bipedal gray aardvark, although like other anthropomorphic characters in the series, he was born to ordinary human parents. He refers to himself by name, in the third person, with occasional exceptions in the early issues and later intentional uses of the first-person pronoun when Cerebus makes speeches while campaigning for office. Although Cerebus identifies as male and is treated as such, biologically, he is hermaphroditic. Possessing both sexes' genitalia and reproductive systems, Cerebus is theoretically capable of impregnating himself. However, a childhood injury to his uterus makes this impossible.

Supporting characters

 * Jaka Tavers :The love of Cerebus's life. A dancer by profession, she is the niece of Lord Julius and (ex-)wife of Rick Nash.
 * Lord Julius : Grandlord of the city-state of Palnu, who exercises control by making the bureaucracy incredibly dense and incomprehensible. Julius is crafty and intelligent, but often plays the fool to confuse and baffle opponents. His character design and behavior is based on Groucho Marx, including snappy insults, a constant cigar, the chicken walk, and a painted-on mustache.
 * Astoria :A beautiful political manipulator, Lord Julius' ex-wife, and the main driving force behind Cerebus's campaign to become prime minister in High Society. She is the leader of the Kevillists, a feminist sect which opposes Cirin. The Kevillists mirror the Cirinists' philosophy, but would prefer power in the hands of daughters instead of mothers. She is named for actress Mary Astor, and may be inspired in some ways by Sim's ex-wife Deni Loubert, though Sim himself denies this in issue 298.
 * Cirin : Leader of the Cirinists, a matriarchal fascist sect which conquers Estarcion at the conclusion of the Church and State storyline. Originally named Serna, she took the name and effectively exchanged identities with the real Cirin, whose views were much less militaristic. The sect honors mothers primarily, also giving high honors to daughters (potential mothers) and children. Men are tolerated. Like Cerebus, she is an aardvark.
 * Elrod the Albino (Elrod of Melvinbone):Essentially Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone with the voice and personality of Senator Claghorn (or Foghorn Leghorn), Elrod is an almost purely comic character whose main purpose is to frustrate and enrage Cerebus. In Reads it is revealed that he was created by Cerebus's proximity to a magic gem, and after learning this he vanishes from existence. However, Joanne tells Cerebus she and her husband used to live next door to Elrod, who was married at the time to Red Sophia.
 * Roach (Artemis):An incompetent superhero character. Sim used the Roach to satirize popular mainstream comic characters or industry publishing trends, beginning with Batman. His other guises have included Captain Cockroach (Captain America), Moonroach (Moon Knight), Wolveroach (Wolverine), the Secret Sacred Wars Roach (Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars series and Frank Miller's Batman from The Dark Knight Returns), (Valentino's normalman), Punisherroach (the Punisher), Swoon (The Sandman), and Sergeant Preston of the Royal Mounted Iestan police (the main character of the radio series Challenge of the Yukon).
 * Adam Weisshaupt : Introduced in Cerebus, he is a ruthless political opponent of Cerebus throughout the Church & State storyline. His manipulations of both Cerebus and the Roach lead to his pawns eventually growing more powerful than he ever hoped to be. Weisshaupt is named after the historical Adam Weishaupt but drawn to look like George Washington (a connection well known to Illuminati conspiracy theorists).
 * Bear : Cerebus's best friend from his mercenary days and main drinking buddy. In "Guys" there are hints Cerebus is suppressing an attraction to him.
 * Joanne :Introduced in a possible future for Cerebus and Jaka by "Dave" in "Minds", Joanne is a bored housewife who has an affair with Cerebus, prompting Jaka's suicide. After Cerebus returns to Estarcion, Joanne reappears and becomes Cerebus's lover, only to be spurned by Cerebus. She later seduces Rick as a way to taunt Cerebus. Joanne is in many ways an opposite of Jaka, and Cerebus bases much of his post-Guys views on how to deal with women on his experience with her. After Shep-shep's mother leaves Cerebus, he labels her "New Joanne".
 * Bran Mac Mufin:Originally a barbarian warlord whose people worshiped an idol who looked remarkably like Cerebus (and which the aardvark destroyed). He later turns up quite unexpectedly, in civilized clothing, to act as an adviser to Cerebus in two separate occasions, first in Cerebus's campaign and first reign as Prime Minister of Iest and then arriving after Cerebus is pope to observe the miracles and give Cerebus advice, though he seems to have a hidden agenda. During the Iest campaign Cerebus states that he trusts Mac Mufin's military advice more than anyone else's. When Thrunk deposes Cerebus, Mac Mufin commits suicide by stabbing himself in the chest with a sword. Mac Mufin is a parody of Robert E. Howard's Celtic barbarian Bran Mak Morn. In his first appearance in Issue #5 his name was spelled Bran Mak Mufin, but in subsequent appearances he goes by Bran Mac Mufin.
 * Rick Nash : First introduced as Jaka's husband in Jaka's Story, Rick is a friendly, gentle ne'er-do-well, whom Sim described in the introduction to the "phonebook" of Jaka's Story as "the nearest I will ever come to the portrayal of a good and thoroughly decent human being; completely without guile or malice". After his marriage to Jaka is dissolved, he becomes mildly insane. He eventually goes on to become the prophet of a religion centered on Cerebus.
 * Suenteus Po:Estarcion's third aardvark, who has lived several lifetimes and has shaped the history of Estarcion. It is also a very common name and several people named "Suenteus Po" appear in the story in various roles—one as an enigmatic illusionist and another as a historian who narrates a sizable portion of Cerebus's first reign as Prime Minister of Iest (though it is very strongly implied that both these Pos are the aardvark). It is mentioned in High Society that some of the followers of the original Suenteus Po named their children after him. The name may be a playful misspelling of the name of Roman historian Suetonius. There was a rock band on San Francisco label Solana Records named Suenteus Po that released an album in 2000.
 * The Regency Elf :A childlike, playful spirit who inhabits Cerebus's rooms at the Regency Hotel in High Society; at first, only Cerebus can see her. She helps Cerebus with some of his political scheming, though, as innocent as she seems, it's all just a game to her. It is discovered later that the Regency Elf who appears to Cerebus is a fake created by Cerebus's subconscious. The Regency Elf is inspired in part by Elfquest and its creator Wendy Pini. Visually, the Regency Elf is inspired by Debbie Harry.

Various other characters in the series were designed to resemble famous actors, politicians, and other personalities and comic in-jokes, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Professor X (with a bit of Chris Claremont thrown in), Canadian Member of Parliament Sheila Copps, director Woody Allen, Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Rodney Dangerfield, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Chico Marx.

Collections
The first 25 issues of Cerebus were collected in six issues of Swords of Cerebus, plus one supplement to Vol. 6, and these stories were then collected in the Cerebus trade paperback. Swords of Cerebus also published several new short Cerebus stories, listed under "Other appearances" above, which were not reprinted in the "phone books"

All of the story arcs from the Cerebus comic book have been reprinted in collected omnibus editions of 240–630 pages each, all of which are presently still in print. They are generally referred to by fans and retailers as Cerebus "phone books" due to their size; also, they use the same newsprint paper as the original comics.

Sim has released two collections of his responses to readers' letters (the original letters are not included) after the publication of Cerebus #300. Collected Letters 2004 (ISBN 0-919359-23-X) was released in 2005, and Collected Letters Vol. 2 was released in 2007 (ISBN 0919359248).

Miscellaneous stories not appearing in the above collections have been reprinted in the short collections Cerebus World Tour Book and in Cerebus Number Zero, which reprints Issues #51, #112/#113 and parts of Issues #137–#138. A few standalone, uncollected stories have appeared in various collections and magazines over the years, and Cerebus has made cameo appearances on the covers of magazines such as Comics Revue. Sim also marketed a set of "Diamondback" cards (based upon a game seen in early issues) in the 1980s. All of the material in the Cerebus arc was reprinted in smaller collections called Swords of Cerebus before Sim decided on the "phonebook" format.

The phonebooks themselves tie into ideas presented in the series. Although grammatically incorrect, the titles of books 8 through 11 could be read as a sentence ("women read minds, guys"—the concept of women reading minds is a key plot point). Also, beginning with Going Home (the first storyline begun after Sim's religious conversion), the covers of each "phone book" are printed in full color, with Going Home and Form and Void using Gerhard's scenic nature photography as covers, rather than the drawings used on past books.

Reception and legacy
Cerebus has been rated to be one of the greatest characters in comics history. Wizard rated him as the 63rd-greatest comic book character, while Empire rated him as the 38th-greatest comic book character, describing him as a character born of bizarre brilliance. IGN placed Cerebus as the 91st-greatest comic book hero of all time, stating that "few names hold as much sway in the independent comics scene as Cerebus" and "Cerebus' mark on the industry will be everlasting".

The term "Cerebus syndrome" has come to commonly describe developments where initially comedic or superficial works in any medium gradually become more serious, complex, and dramatic.

Over a decade after the end of the comic book series, an author named Michael Fryar published a science fiction novel titled Wasted Genius: A Flaherty Story which features Cerebus as a character.

In Season 9, Episode 5 of The Office (American TV series), the character Dwight Schrute is seen dressed as Cerebus for Halloween.

title: Cerebus the Aardvark


text:
Michelle Trachtenberg

Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (born October 11, 1985) is an American actress. Trachtenberg began her career at age three, appearing in a number of commercials, films, and television series as a child. Her starring role on the Nickelodeon television series The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1994–1996) as Nona Mecklenberg was her first credited role. She starred in the Nickelodeon Movies comedy film Harriet the Spy (1996) as the film's eponymous character and in the CBS sitcom Meego (1997) as Maggie, for both of which she won Young Artist Awards.

Trachtenberg found further success on the WB/UPN supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000–2003) as Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the show's eponymous protagonist, a role which won her another Young Artist Award and earned her three Saturn Award nominations. She also earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her role as the host of the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare (2001–2003). During the mid-2000s, she had starring roles in the films EuroTrip (2004) and Ice Princess (2005) and supporting roles in the films Mysterious Skin (2004) and Black Christmas (2006). In the late 2000s and early 2010s, her recurring role on the CW teen drama television series Gossip Girl (2008–2012) as socialite Georgina Sparks earned her further popularity, and she also starred on the NBC television series Mercy (2009–2010) as Chloe Payne.

In the 2010s, Trachtenberg starred in several television films, including Killing Kennedy (2013) and Sister Cities (2015), and in the science fiction film The Scribbler (2014). She provided the lead voice of Judy in the Facebook Watch adult animated web series Human Kind Of (2018) and executive produced the teen drama web series Guidance (2015–2017) and the Tubi true crime television series Meet, Marry, Murder (2021).

Early life
Trachtenberg was born on October 11, 1985, in New York City, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Germany; her grandparents reside in Israel. She is fluent in Russian.

She was raised with her older sister, Irene, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, where she attended junior high school at The Bay Academy for the Arts and Sciences. She later attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California.

1988–2003
Trachtenberg made her first television appearance at the age of three, in a commercial for Wisk detergent. She went on to feature in over 100 more commercials. Her first television role was in the second season of Law & Order; her first credited role was as Nona F. Mecklenberg on the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 until 1996. During the same period she played Lily Montgomery on the soap opera All My Children.

Trachtenberg's film career began in 1996 with the title role in Harriet the Spy, for which she had to leave The Adventures of Pete & Pete while its third season was running. She then starred in the short-lived television series Meego, which garnered her a Young Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget. She also starred in the film Can't Be Heaven. In the summer of 2000, she took on the role of Dawn Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remaining in the role until the show ended in 2003. She also hosted the Discovery Kids series Truth or Scare from 2001 to 2003.

2004–2007
After Buffy and Truth or Scare, Trachtenberg appeared in the comedy film EuroTrip. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series Six Feet Under, as Celeste, a spoiled pop star for whom Keith Charles served as a bodyguard. In March 2005, she starred in Walt Disney Pictures' comedy sports drama film Ice Princess as Casey Carlyle, a science whiz, who is torn between a future in academia and her newfound dream of being a professional figure skater.

In 2004, Trachtenberg played Wendy in Gregg Araki's film adaptation of Scott Heim's novel, Mysterious Skin. Wendy is the best friend of Neil (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a teenage hustler in small-town Kansas. The film debuted at the 2004 Venice Film Festival.

In April 2006, Trachtenberg guest-starred in the episode of House, "Safe". She revealed on the December 22, 2006, episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien that House was her favorite show, and that she was friends with one of the producers and had asked to be a guest star.

In November 2006, Trachtenberg guest starred in season six of the crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode "Weeping Willow", she played the role of Willow, a kidnapped video blogger, likely based on lonelygirl15. Trachtenberg also appeared in the Fall Out Boy music video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", the Joaquin Phoenix-directed music video for "Tired of Being Sorry" by Ringside, and the video for the Trapt song "Echo".

In 2006, Trachtenberg starred in Black Christmas, the remake of the 1974 slasher of the same name. In 2007, she was cast as the female lead in an ABC comedy pilot called The Hill, based on the newspaper of the same name in Washington, D.C.

2008–2010
Trachtenberg provided the voice of Tika Waylan for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a direct-to-video animated film based on the novel of the same name. She appeared on The CW hit show Gossip Girl, as Georgina Sparks, who recently left rehab and brings back the dark past Serena van der Woodsen desperately wants to leave behind. She returned to the show for a multiple-episode story arc towards the end of season two. Trachtenberg appeared in the season-three finale and in season four. She also appeared several times in season five, and in almost every episode of season six, the show's final season. In 2009, Trachtenberg was a cast member on the NBC drama series Mercy, which lasted one season. She then returned to film, starring in the 2009 teen fantasy comedy 17 Again, and had a small role in the comedy Cop Out (2010).

2011–present
On June 9, 2011, Trachtenberg guest starred on Love Bites, as Jodie, who, after being unceremoniously dumped, decides – with a vengeance – to accept her ex's offer to "be friends". She reprised the role on June 16, 2011, and in the series finale on July 21, 2011. In the same year, Trachtenberg was a guest star on Weeds during its seventh season, portraying Emma, a rival pot dealer who causes problems for Silas Botwin. In June 2012, Trachtenberg was cast in the film The Scribbler, produced by Gabriel Cowan.

In the Criminal Minds episode "Zugzwang", Trachtenberg played Diane Turner, the criminal stalker to Spencer Reid's girlfriend, Maeve Donovan. In March 2011, she was the featured cover girl in Maxim.

In late 2015, Trachtenberg starred in the online series Guidance as Anna, the high school guidance counselor.

title: Michelle Trachtenberg