Daniel Osbourne
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- For the comic of the same name, see Oz (comics)
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Daniel "Oz" Osbourne was a member of the Scooby Gang, a werewolf and also the guitarist of Dingoes Ate My Baby and a student both at Sunnydale High and UC Sunnydale. He was portrayed by Seth Green.
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Biography
Sunnydale High
A taciturn, guitar-playing teen, and eventually Willow's boyfriend, Oz first appears in the episode "Inca Mummy Girl," becoming a recurring character throughout Season Two and a main character in Season Three. In Season Four, he leaves Sunnydale, heading off on his own to seek control over his werewolf side. He is last seen in Willow's dream in the episode "Restless". He is last mentioned in the Season Seven episode "Potential".
Oz's most outstanding trait is his detached, ironic approach to life, masking a deeply philosophical interior. He is also the lead guitarist for the band Dingoes Ate My Baby, which performs frequently at The Bronze. A high school senior, one year above Willow and the rest of the group, he "tests well" but his only real ambition lies in his music.
He notices Willow in spite of — or perhaps because of — her Eskimo costume at a dance at The Bronze, and seems to be interested in her at first sight. It would take several episodes for the two to actually meet in person. They go into, according to Willow, "some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding or... anything else", even though they had several dates, on one of which he witnesses a vampire being dusted by Buffy for the first time, and thus becoming a member of the Scooby Gang. He is unsurprised upon learning that vampires exist in Sunnydale and merely remarks that it "explains a lot". He and Willow eventually share their first kiss and become a couple at the end of the Season Two episode "Phases".
The episode "Phases" was also the episode in which he discovers that he has become a werewolf, turning into a monster on the three nights around a full moon, having been bitten on his finger by his pre-adolescent cousin Jordy. (Interestingly, when Oz calls Jordy's mother, his Aunt Maureen, to ask if Jordy is a werewolf, Maureen is apparently unfazed by the question and readily confirms Jordy's condition, indicating that Oz is not the only exceptionally laid-back member of his family.) On his third night as a wolf, Oz is nearly killed by werewolf hunter Gib Cain for his pelt, but saved by Buffy and the Scooby Gang, with whose help he quickly finds a way to minimize the danger posed by the wolf: He locks himself into a cage for the appropriate nights, watched over by the Scoobies in shifts.
Even though he is extremely intelligent (so much so that he, along with Willow, was tracked for a time by "the world's leading software concern"), he does not manage to graduate that year, due to several incompletes and failing to attend summer school. He repeats his senior year, putting him in the same class with the rest of the gang, and graduates with them. During this year, his relationship with Willow goes through rough water as he and Cordelia catch Xander and Willow kissing ("Lover's Walk"). They break up, but get back together again after Oz confesses he misses her ("Amends"). In the episode "Graduation Day, Part One", Oz and Willow have sex before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor, concerned that they might die in battle. Willow loses her virginity as a result, and Oz, despite having already lost his, admits that "everything is different."
College and Tibet
After graduation, he attends UC Sunnydale, together with Buffy and Willow, and is seen taking 'Introduction to Psychology' by Professor Walsh with them. Unlike the other two, he does not have a dorm room, but stays in a house off campus along with the rest of the band. Because the cage he used to lock himself up on the nights around the full moon was destroyed (along with the rest of the library and Sunnydale High School) during the fight against the Mayor, he now locks himself up into a cage in a crypt at a local cemetery.
While appearing to the outside world as to have come to terms with his lycanthropy rather easily, evidence arises that he indeed does hold great fear of his werewolf side ("Fear, Itself"), and especially hurting others with it. Moreover, gradually, he starts to see that he and the wolf aren't as separate as he'd like to believe — although in love with Willow, he is nevertheless drawn to another werewolf, Veruca, a fellow UC Sunnydale student who, unlike Oz, considers the wolf to be her true self. After spending a night in the cage with Veruca, and killing her at the following sunset to protect Willow, Oz resolves to leave Sunnydale so as not to endanger his friends further ("Wild at Heart").
Some months later, Oz returns to Sunnydale, believing that his lycanthropy is now under control through techniques learned in Tibet ("New Moon Rising"). Although the moon no longer affects him, he can still transform into the werewolf when faced with strong emotion ("negative stimulation"), such as anger or pain, as he discovers when he finds that Tara Maclay has replaced him in Willow's affections and when The Initiative seizes him for its experiments. This transformation can occur during the day.
After that discovery, Oz leaves Sunnydale for good (reflecting Seth Green's decision to concentrate on his film career) soon after the Scoobies, assisted by Riley, break him out of The Initiative's complex. He and Willow leave on friendly terms, she even admits that she expects to run into him again at some point in her life. Oz is last seen in Willow's dream in the episode "Restless". Oz is not seen again for the remainder of the series' run, though is mentioned in "I Was Made to Love You" and "Potential".
Oz returns in the canonical Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comics, beginning in the "Retreat" arc. Issue 27 introduces his partner, the werewolf Bayarmaa, and son Kelden. Since his departure from Sunnydale to Tibet, Oz and other werewolves like him have learned to accept the inner wolf's place in nature by being one with the Earth and letting it "absorb the wolf". However, other werewolves such as former student Monroe have taken the opposite philosophy much like Veruca's and pose a problem for Oz and his new family. When the Scooby Gang arrive in a giant submarine outside of Oz's monastery in "Retreat, Part I", he agrees Part II to attempt a similar suppression for Willow and the Slayers' magical powers as Twilight closes in on them.
Powers and abilities
Oz is a werewolf, meaning that he has the potential to transform into a berserk, lupine creature with enhanced strength, stamina, and sense of smell. From "Phases" to "Wild at Heart", he, like most werewolves, must change into animal form on the night of a full moon, the night preceding it, and the night following it. After "Wild at Heart," Oz acquires some level of control over his form by traveling around the world and learning about herbs, meditative techniques, and other forms of little-known treatment for his condition. He prefers to stay human, and only changes under great emotional stress. He might very well now even be more dangerous as a result, as he can no longer predict when he will change, and those around him are at immediate risk if he changes without notice.
Oz also has a highly enhanced sense of smell when in human form. During the episode "Lovers Walk", he is able to smell Willow from great distance although she "doesn't even wear perfume." Oz can also tell that she is fearful by her scent, mimicking an ability often attributed to many animals, especially canines.
He also demonstrates that werewolves can exert influence on their actions in bestial form. When Oz transforms for his battle with Veruca, he instantly attacks her until she's dead, completely ignoring Willow until killing Veruca.
Oz is also a skilled musician, specializing in electric guitar. He also is knowledgeable with regards to pop culture, as evidenced in "Helpless."
Romantic Relationships
Appearances
Buffy Season 2
Buffy Season 3
Buffy Season 4/Angel Season 1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: OzBuffy Season 8 |
