Daniel Osbourne

Daniel Osbourne, known primarily as "Oz", was a member of the Scooby Gang, a werewolf, the guitarist of Dingoes Ate My Baby and a student both at Sunnydale High and UC Sunnydale. For some years he also was the boyfriend of witch Willow Rosenberg.

Sunnydale High
A taciturn, guitar-playing teen, Oz was the lead guitarist of the band Dingoes Ate My Baby with his friend Devon MacLeish who was on vocals. The two, along with other unnamed members of the band, frequently preformed at the Bronze nightclub. In his senior year, he became Willow Rosenberg's boyfriend. His most outstanding trait was his detached, ironic approach to life, masking a deeply philosophical interior. A high school senior, one year above Willow and the rest of the group, he tested well, but his only real ambition lay in his music, often missing important exams.

Senior Year


He noticed Willow in spite of, or perhaps because of her Eskimo costume at a dance at the Bronze, and seemed to be interested in her at first sight. It would take a while for the two to actually meet in person. They went into, according to Willow, "some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding or... anything else," even though they had several dates. They officially started seeing each other after his ordeal at the Career Fair at Sunnydale High, where he was struck by a bullet wound at the hands of a Tarakan assassin Patrice, who, disguised as a police officer, accidentally hit him when she attempted to kill the Slayer, Buffy Summers, a fellow student at Sunnydale High and friend to Willow. He quickly recovered, only having received an injured arm. He witnessed a vampire being dusted by Buffy for the first time while he was Willow's date at a surprise birthday party for Buffy, thus becoming a member of the Scooby Gang, later helping them research and fight monsters at the Sunnydale High School library and hanging out as one of Buffy's circle of friends. He was unsurprised upon learning that vampires existed in Sunnydale, and merely remarked that it "explains a lot" after Xander Harris unenthusiastically explained the Hellmouth to him. He assisted the gang in obtaining a rocket launcher by taking them to a military compound via his van, thus allowing them to defeat the Judge, a powerful demon who attempted to massacre a large number of people at the Sunnydale Mall, which Oz suggested that it was where the Judge was at to find victims. He soon discovered that he had 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 when Oz tickled him after Jordy got his permanent teeth. Interestingly, when Oz called Jordy's mother, his Aunt Maureen, to ask if Jordy was a werewolf, Maureen was apparently unfazed by the question and readily confirmed Jordy's condition. Worried that the Scooby Gang would kill him, Oz hid the fact of what happened to him as his werewolf side made itself noticed by attacking a local make-out park and the Bronze. On his third night as a wolf, Oz attempted to restrain himself before his transformation with shackles and chains, however he freely turned anyway as Willow just arrived and confronted him about his recent behavior before he could chain himself. Chasing after Willow, he was nearly killed by werewolf hunter Gib Cain for his pelt, but saved by Buffy and the Scooby Gang, with whose help he quickly found a way to minimize the danger posed by the wolf: he locked himself into a cage for the appropriate nights, watched over by the Scoobies in shifts. After that event, he and Willow shared their first kiss. After that he began consistently aiding the Scooby Gang, once searching for Buffy when she became a rat and assisting Willow in preforming the Ritual of Restoration to restore Angelus' soul at the hospital where she had been taken to.

Repeated Senior Year
Even though he was extremely intelligent, so much so that he, along with Willow, was tracked for a time by "the world's leading software concern", he did not manage to graduate that year, due to several incompletes and failing to attend summer school. He repeated his senior year put him in the same class as the rest of the gang, and he graduated with them. Before Buffy returned to Sunnydale after she left for Los Angeles in the previous months, Oz accompanied Willow, Xander and later Cordelia Chase in hunting vampires, though their joint effort wasn't very effective; he claimed they had a success rate of "six out of ten". Upon Buffy's arrival back, he with his friends organized Buffy's welcome back party in which Dingoes Ate My Baby played at. During the year, he continued to handle his transformations well except for when he was suspected for killing his fellow band mate Jeffrey Walken, to later find out he was actually killed by the mutated Pete Clarner who then tried to kill Oz under the suspicion he was involved with his girlfriend Debbie Foley. This was during one of his transformations, however, so Peter forced Oz out of his cage just before Oz transformed, becoming evenly matched. After Buffy arrived, Oz ran off down the school halls and was apprehended by Willow and Faith Lehane who tranquilized him. When Buffy, Willow and Amy Madison were at the risk of being burned at the stake by MOO, an anti-witchcraft parent organization under the influence of a demon, Oz and Xander attempted to save them by sneaking through the building where the executions where going to take place via the ventilation. Though their efforts were overshadowed by the rescue from Rupert Giles and Cordelia Chase, Oz was forced to meet Willow's parents at dinner after Willow revealed to her mother that she was dating a musician.

Oz was briefly released in wolf form when the Sisterhood of Jhe attempted to open the Hellmouth. It was in the school's basement that he encountered, killed and devoured a zombie named Jack O'Toole, who was just convinced by Xander to disarm a bomb he planted in the school. The next day in his human form, Oz then noticed that he felt full, not knowing why.

His relationship with Willow went through rough water as he and Cordelia caught Xander and Willow kissing while the two were trapped and kidnapped by the vampire Spike, prompting Oz and Cordelia to find them. They broke up, but weeks after they got back together again after a conversations where Oz confessed he missed her. Oz was later held hostage by Willow's vampire counterpart from another dimension who raided the Bronze wanting to return to it. Oz attempted to speak to her but was only recognized as his vampire hunting counterpart from her dimension.

Oz and Willow had sex before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor, concerned that they might die in battle. Willow lost her virginity as a result, and Oz, despite having already lost his, admitted that "everything is different." He took part in the battle at the Graduation Day, commanding a number of students armed with bows with flaming arrows.

After the high school blew up, Oz remarked that they survived, and Buffy said that it was "one heck of a battle". He then corrected her, saying that he did not mean the the battle, but high school.

College
After graduation, he attended UC Sunnydale, together with Buffy and Willow, and enrolled in "Introduction to Psychology" by Professor Walsh with them. Unlike the other two, he did not have a dorm room, but stayed 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 locked himself up into a cage in a crypt at a local cemetery.

After Buffy obtained the Gem of Amarra from Spike who used it in an attempt to kill her during the day, Oz offered to deliver it to Buffy's ex-boyfriend and vampire Angel, traveling to L.A. and dropping it off at Angel Investigations while he was there for a gig. Before returning to Sunnydale, Oz also helped Cordelia, Doyle and Angel prevent Spike from getting the Gem of Amarra, who also traveled to L.A. and hired the vampire Marcus to torture Angel for the Gem's location. Oz intervened just in time by driving into the factory that Angel had been kept, rescuing Angel and then taking him to the pier where Marcus was, having taken the gem himself.

Despite the appearance that he had come to terms with his lycanthropy rather easily, he did hold great fear of his werewolf side. During Halloween, the fear demon Gachnar was summoned, whose presence materialized the fears of the party-goers who went to Alpha Delta house Halloween party. Oz, having helped decorating, was one of them. This caused him to partially transform into the wolf, though he tried to prevented it by controlling his fear while hiding in a bathtub. Moreover, gradually, he started to see that he and the wolf were not as separate as he liked to believe. Although in love with Willow, he was nevertheless drawn to another musician and werewolf, Veruca, a fellow UC Sunnydale student who, unlike Oz, considered the wolf to be her true self. Unable to control his primal urges, he spent a night in the cage with Veruca as wolves before killing her at the following sunset to protect Willow. Willow was appalled by his betrayal and tried to use magic to curse them while Veruca, but didn't go through with it. Oz then resolved to immediately leave Sunnydale, dropping out of UC Sunnydale and only taking a few essentials while he abruptly left in his van so as not to endanger his friends further.

He traveled on road and eventually overseas. He went through Mexico where his van broke down, forcing him to trade his bass guitar to have it fixed and garaged. In Romania he met Dragomir, who then sent him to Tibet. There, Buddhist monks taught him to suppress his transformations during the full moon with the help of charms, herbs, chanting, and meditation. Here he also met a Tibetan woman and fellow werewolf, Bayarmaa, nicknamed Bay, who tended to him during his stay in the monastery and with whom he meditated.

Some months later, Oz returned to Sunnydale, believing that his lycanthropy was under control through techniques learned in Tibet, hoping to rejoin college and be with Willow again. Although the moon no longer affected him, he could still transform into the werewolf when faced with strong emotion ("negative stimulation"), such as anger or pain. This transformation could occur during the day. This happened when he discovered that Tara Maclay had replaced him in Willow's affections when both witches fell in love by preforming spells while he was gone. Transformed, he attacked her in the campus hallway before he was seized by the Initiative, a military demon research facility that kept him imprisoned. They treated him to cruel experiment, such as electrocuting him, forcibly making him turn from man to beast.

He was put in a cell amongst other captive demons, naked and alone, until he was rescued by Buffy's boyfriend and Initiative agent Riley Finn. After dressing, Riley tried to sneak Oz out but they were then subdued by Riley's fellow agents. Buffy, however, snuck into the military base dressed as a scientist and held Colonel McNamara hostage in exchange for Oz. The trade worked as planned but Riley was forced to leave the Initiative. Oz decided to leave Sunnydale again. He and Willow left on friendly terms, and even admitted that she expected to run into him again at some point in her life.

Tibet


Oz returned to Tibet to continue the Buddhist practices of herbs, chants, and meditation to hold back the wolf, but realized nothing worked anymore. He was tempted to give in to his wolf side and lose himself in it, but did not, when Bayarmaa told him about the original Tibetan religion Bon. The two studied the original scriptures and built upon the religion to make their own traditions, which came down to seeing the spiritual life in all things in the world and being quietly aware that they were part of it all. The secret was not to bottle of the wolf, but to let the energy of it flow through them without taking them, letting it pass into the world around them, and "the wolf is pulled into the earth."

Oz and Bayarmaa became involved and eventually had a son together, whom they name Kelden.

The word about their accomplishments spread, prompting other werewolves to come to Tibet in hope of a cure. One of them was Monroe, and although his progress was promising, he went out into the world too soon. He "got tempted, lost his focus, to let the power pass through him," and soon headed a group with beliefs similar to those of Veruca. During a full moon they entered the monastery and killed many of the monks, and intended to kill Bayarmaa and Oz if not for Bay transforming and incapacitating Monroe, prompting the rest of the group to flee. The group still posed a danger to Oz and his family, who carried knives with them at all times.

When the Scooby Gang arrived in a giant submarine outside of Oz's monastery, Oz agreed to attempt a similar suppression for Willow and the Slayers' magical powers as Twilight, honing in on their magic, closed in on them, but stressed the considerable danger that Buffy brought to his doorstep. Oz was injured in the battle against Twilight, but his injuries were minor.

Personality and Traits
"You always know what to say, when you bother to talk."

- Willow Oz was well known for his detached and collected demeanor, while having deep philosophical knowledge. For example, he took the existence of the supernatural in stride, remarking that it "explained a lot," and reacted to the sight of a massive submarine teleporting outside of his monastery with a simple "Huh." Oz also had a characteristic and smooth sense of humor, being witty and intellectual. Oz often spoke in short, brief sentences and approached life and situations rather eccentrically, once informing Willow that he would later ask her out on a date and asking what she would think of that despite claiming he was unsure and nervous about it.

When it came to him being a werewolf, Oz took this seriously and was very prudent about the risk he posed to others and how it affected him. He asked the Slayer Faith about her position on dealing with werewolves while she was reminiscing about her own enjoyment from slaying. His love for Willow led him to leaving her and abandoning college to seek out a cure.

Clothes
In high school, Oz typically wore t-shirts underneath a bowler shirt, jeans and black boots. In college, he wore sneakers, baggy pants and a sheepskin jacket when traveling from and to Sunnydale. He also sometimes wore ear piercings, studded bracelets and sported black painted nails.

While in Tibet, he wore saffron colored monk's robes and sandals. Upon his return to Sunnydale from Tibet he displayed a more natural look than before; wearing a v-neck sweater and prayer beads. These prayer beads became a permanent part of his appearance, never taking them off from this point on. After moving to Tibet permanently, his outfits were mostly mixes of what he wore previously, ranging from monk's robes with a t-shirt over it, a combination of a long-sleeved shirt and a t-shirt, band shirts and sweaters.

Hair
During high school, Oz usually kept his hair short, straight and spiked. In late 1997, Oz had a slight goatee which he eventually shaved. In college, Oz's hair was slightly longer, but after he left Sunnydale and subsequently returned, it was short again.

One of Oz's most notable features was his hair color that continuously changed:
 * Before meeting Willow, Oz had light red hair.
 * He dyed it chestnut brown after his first meeting with Willow, who noticed the change.
 * Oz dyed his hair blond after his first monthly transformations.
 * During the first months of his repeated Senior year, Oz had dark hair with light spikes, which teenage Principal Snyder thought was "great hair".
 * Oz dyed his hair black around the time he began dating Willow again.
 * Oz dyed his hair blond shortly before graduation.
 * At graduation Oz had dark hair with light spikes again.
 * During college at UC Sunnydale and in Tibet Oz had auburn hair.

Werewolf
During his first transformation cycle, Oz's werewolf form was bipedal with a long snout, brown-grayish fur, erected ears and long, primal hands hands with sharp nails. In further transformations his werewolf form had a quadrupedal body, a small tail, predominately larger black fur with white fur on the lower part of his body while his face remained bare with a wrinkled, pale, more-human appearance and a flatter nose.

Powers and Abilities
Oz was a werewolf, meaning that he had the potential to transform into a berserk, lupine creature with enhanced strength, speed, stamina and sense of smell. He, like most werewolves, changed into animal form on the night of a full moon, the night preceding it, and the night following it. Later, Oz acquired 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 preferred to stay human, and only changed under great emotional stress. By letting the energy of the wolf flow into the earth, he did not transform at all anymore, although the potential was still there, as evidenced by Bay.

Oz had a highly enhanced sense of smell even when in human form. He was able to smell Willow from great distance although she didn't even wear perfume. Oz could also tell that she was fearful by her scent, mimicking an ability often attributed to many animals, especially canines.

He demonstrated that werewolves could exert influence on their actions in bestial form: when Oz transformed for his battle with Veruca, he instantly attacked her until she was dead, completely ignoring Willow until killing Veruca.

Oz was a skilled musician, specializing in electric guitar. He was knowledgeable with regards to pop culture.

Romantic
"A werewolf in love…"

- Oz




 * Willow Rosenberg — Oz was mystified when first seeing Willow during the World Culture Dance, noticing Willow dressed as an Eskimo at the food table in the Bronze during his band's performance, showing interest in her while Devon was more interested in the beautiful Incan Mummy. He then later saw her during Halloween when she passed his van down the road while dressed provocatively when she was a ghost. They finally met on Career Day when their exceptional intellects led them to being recruited by a software company. Later that day after Oz was treated for his bullet wound, they struck up a conversation about why the monkeys in animal crackers were the only one to wear pants. When dating, Willow approached the relationship with caution, nervously asking Oz if he wanted to make out with her while he took a calmer position, adoring Willow's worrying and cheerful personality and often calling her 'cute'. After Willow cheated on him, he, unlike Cordelia, took time to work things out before rekindling what they had because he missed her. When it came to taking intimate steps, Oz was willing to allow them to reach that point when they were both ready while Willow tried to prove herself by preparing a romantic night during Christmas. Willow was kidnapped and held at ransom by Mayor Wilkins, causing Oz to angrily destroy the cauldron used to destroy the Box of Gavrok after Wesley refused to to trade it for Willow. They eventually made love before graduation, worried they might both die in the battle against the Mayor. When she claimed she felt "different", Oz responded that he knew exactly what she meant, despite not being a virgin himself. Oz and Willow maintained their close-knit romantic bond during their first few months at UC Sunnydale. He began having an intense attraction for Veruca, a fellow werewolf. He was initially bewildered of this and repressed it due to his deep devotion to Willow, but eventually faltered. On the night of the full moon, he awoke with Veruca in a forest, having slept with her when he was a werewolf. Oz had no memory of this and became consumed with confusion and guilt. Veruca tried to coax him to accept his dark side and her, but he refused. Picking up on her dangerous and volatile nature, he locked her in the cage with him, sleeping with her again in the process when he wolfed out. His relationship with Willow came to a screeching halt when she walked in on this, angry and sorrowful. Oz tried to explain that he believed he had no choice only for her to ignore him. After saving Willow for Veruca's attempt on her life, Oz decided to leave Sunnydale to find out how to control his lycanthropy. He confronted a tear-streaked Willow, desperately trying to convince him to stay. Sorrowful, he did not change his mind but made sure to tell her he loved her before leaving Sunnydale. Oz would later send for the remaining belongings he left in Sunnydale, but did not show up himself. This only despaired Willow more, reigniting the pain of his departure.  When he returning to Sunnydale having believed his goal was accomplished, he learning of Willow's relationship with Tara. Oz's strong emotional response to this led him to transform during the day. Since he could not truly cure his lycanthropy, Oz left Willow once more though peacefully as his void was filled by Tara. When Oz met Willow once again, while still retaining a fondness and affection towards Willow, he had fully moved on from her romantically, having falling in love with Bay.


 * Veruca — During college, both Oz and Veruca took interest in each other before meeting due to them being both werewolves. Unlike Willow, Veruca shared Oz's knowledge and interest of music, giving them more to talk about. Despite their opposing viewpoints about being werewolves, the two had sex twice during their werewolf transformations, first when Oz got out of his cage and second in his cage when he tried to prevent her from harming anyone. Veruca, believing they belonged together, tried to kill his girlfriend Willow after she found out about them. Oz intervened just as he and Veruca began transforming. Veruca first encouraged him to kill Willow and while it seemed he agreed, he instead turned against Veruca and tore out her throat in the subsequent fight.


 * Bayarmaa — The two met in Tibet and fell in love while they studied the Tibetan religion Bon. They married, and Bay gave birth to their son Kelden. They resided in a Tibetan temple with their pet dog, where together they taught other werewolves to overcome their demons.

Friendships

 * Xander Harris 
 * Buffy Summers
 * Cordelia Chase 

Antagonistic

 * Tara Maclay 

Other

 * Rupert Giles- As Buffy's Watcher, Giles served as Oz's main source of information on his wolf condition, Giles helping Oz find someone who could help him control his wolf side when he asked for it, as well as providing Oz with a cage to keep him contained during the full moon.
 * Angel- Despite the two's obvious similarity as supernatural beings fighting their natures by allying with the Scooby Gang, Oz and Angel rarely interacted, mainly due to the fact that Oz joined the gang during the attack of the Judge that saw Angel losing his soul for the first time. After Angel regained his soul and returned to Earth, he and Oz maintained a civil interaction, such as when they witnessed the arrival of the vampire Willow in their world, Oz quickly volunteering to provide Angel with the Gem of Amara when Buffy claimed it. When Oz came to Los Angeles, he and Oz exchanged brief words, Cordelia noting that their conversation was typical of their relationship.
 * Doyle- Doyle and Oz only met briefly, but they got along rather well, Oz helping Doyle and Cordelia rescue Angel from Spike and the sadistic Marcus.
 * Riley Finn- While Oz and Riley only met briefly, Riley quickly came to regard Oz as a friend due to their mutual contacts in the Scooby Gang, to the extent that Riley turned on his colleagues in the Initiative to rescue Oz when they abducted and experimented on him even after seeing Oz as a werewolf.

Gallery

 * See Daniel Osbourne/Gallery

Behind the Scenes

 * He was portrayed by Seth Green.


 * Oz was first a recurring character in the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appearing in 10 episodes in that season. He was then promoted to the regular cast in season three, appearing in 21 of the 22 episodes in that season (he was absent in "Consequences"). He then continued as regular in the fourth season for the first 6 episodes before lastly appearing in two guest star appearances ("New Moon Rising" and "Restless"). During his regular appearances in season four, he made a guest appearance in the first season of Angel in the episode "In the Dark". Overall Oz has appeared in a total of 41 episodes: 40 on Buffy and 1 guest appearance on Angel.


 * Seth Green abruptly left the show early into the fourth season to pursue a career in movies, defending his actions saying that his character was better in a recurring capacity.
 * There are three Oz-centric episodes: "Phases," "Wild at Heart," and "New Moon Rising." Marti Noxon states in the DVD commentary that these episodes are viewed as a "Willow/Oz Trilogy."


 * Oz was originally supposed to be the one killed off by Angelus in Buffy Season Two, but the character's positive fan reaction resulted in the writers swapping him for Jenny Calendar.


 * Seth Green later guest-starred on How I Met Your Mother with Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg). This show include also many guest-stars of Buffyverse like Danny Strong (Jonathan Levinson), Danielle Weeks (Debbie Foley), Harry Groener (Richard Wilkins), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), Kal Penn (Hunt/Brain man), Tom Lenk (Cyrus/Andrew Wells) and Amy Acker (Winifred Burkle/Illyria).

Angel Season 1

 * In the Dark

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Oz

 * Oz

Buffy Season 8

 * Retreat
 * Turbulence
 * Twilight, Part Three (in flashback)

Willow Wonderland

 * Wonderland: Part One (in vision)
 * Wonderland: Part Four (in vision)