Oz Osbourne

Lore & Background

Oz's most outstanding trait is his detached, ironic approach to life, masking a deeply philosophical interior and a very calm, devoted, gentle nature. 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 is highly intelligent and "tests well", but his only real ambition lies in music. He notices Willow in her Eskimo costume at a dance at The Bronze, and seems to be interested in her at first sight; but does not meet her directly until several episodes later. They have several dates, on one of which he witnesses a vampire being dusted by Buffy for the first time, and is unsurprised upon learning vampires exist and merely remarks that "it explains a lot". After this he becomes a member of the Scooby Gang, helping with research and fighting. In the episode "Phases" Oz learns 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 cousin Jordy. On his third night as a wolf, Oz is nearly killed by werewolf hunter Gib Cain for his pelt, but is 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. The revelation that Oz is a werewolf does not dissuade Willow from dating him, and they become a couple.

In Their Own Story

Even though he is intelligent, several incompletes in his senior year require that he repeat it, putting him in the same graduating year as the rest of the gang. During this year, his relationship with Willow goes through rough water as he and Cordelia catch Xander and Willow kissing. 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 make love before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor Wilkins. After graduation, he attends UC Sunnydale together with Buffy and Willow, and is seen taking 'Introduction to Psychology' by Professor Walsh along 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, and now locks himself up into a cage in a crypt at a local cemetery. Oz makes one appearance on Angel to deliver the Ring of Amarra, and plays a crucial role in the plot of that episode ("In the Dark"). While appearing to the outside world to have come to terms with his lycanthropy rather easily, evidence arises he indeed is fearful of his werewolf side ("Fear, Itself"), and especially of hurting others with it. Moreover, he starts to see that he and his wolf side may not be as separate as he'd like to think. When he meets a female werewolf, Veruca, a seductive UC Sunnydale student who sings in a band, they are immediately drawn to each other, and unbeknownst to him, they meet as wolves in the woods and have sex on the first night of the full moon. Veruca, who, unlike Oz, is conscious of her state and believes they are "the wolf all the time," tries to convince Oz that they belong together. Unlike Oz, Veruca sees nothing wrong with killing humans when she is a werewolf; she feels that that is her true identity. Instead of telling the others about Veruca, he convinces her to join him in his cage on the next night they are due to turn into werewolves. They have sex again and are found the next morning lying together naked by Willow, who is devastated. Willow considers using magic to hurt Veruca, but changes her mind at the last minute. Veruca, who watched Willow, then attacks her. During the attack, Veruca transforms into a werewolf and tries to kill Willow, but Oz, also in werewolf form, protects Willow and kills Veruca. After he kills Veruca, he nearly attacks Willow, but Buffy stops him in time. Oz realizes that Veruca was correct, and tells Willow that he is, indeed, "the wolf all the time" and needs to leave in order to try to better understand his own nature. Some months later, Oz returns to Sunnydale, having made progress with his lycanthropy through techniques learned in Tibet. He no longer uncontrollably changes into a werewolf during a full moon, and can now control his transformations, and shows Willow this when he takes her outside and shows her that the moon is full and he has not changed. However, when experiencing the powerful negative emotion of jealousy evoked by the discovery that Tara Maclay has replaced him in Willow's affections, he does change, and is seized by The Initiative and locked in their cells until Buffy, helped by Riley Finn, sets him free. The knowledge that Willow now loves Tara makes Oz leave Sunnydale for good, though he and Willow each affirm the depth and permanence of their connection. He is last seen in Willow's dream in the episode "Restless."

Reader's Guide

Oz originated as a temporary cast member for the show. He was based on a student with whom Buffy-creator Joss Whedon attended college, as Whedon mentions in his commentary on "Innocence" in the Season Two DVD boxed set. In the writers' original plans Oz was to be killed early in season 2 by a vampire, presumably Angelus, before this dubious honor went to Jenny Calendar. The plan changed, as shown in "Phases" when Oz's plot is expanded as he becomes a werewolf. On the season 4 featurette: Oz Revelations: A Full Moon, the writers related Oz's inne...

Did You Know?

• Oz was originally planned to be killed early in season 2 by a vampire, presumably Angelus, before that fate went to Jenny Calendar.
• The character is based on a student Joss Whedon attended college with, as mentioned in his commentary on the episode 'Innocence'.
• Oz was bitten on his finger by his cousin Jordy, which caused him to become a werewolf.
• Seth Green portrays Oz in one episode of the spin-off series Angel, titled 'In the Dark'.
• Oz's band Dingoes Ate My Baby is named after the widespread news coverage of the death of nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain in Australia in 1980.