Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne
CHARACTER HISTORYA taciturn, guitar-playing teen, and eventually Willow's boyfriend, Oz first appears in the episode "Inca Mummy Girl," becoming a recurring character throughout the second and third seasons. In the fourth season, 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 7 episode "Potential".
His 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 (his first line to her being "Canapé?"). 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 becomes a member of the Scooby Gang. He is not shocked to learn that vampires exist and remarks that it "explains a lot". He and Willow eventually share their first kiss and become a couple at the end of episode 2.15 "Phases".
The episode Phases was also the episode where he finds 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 a hunter for his pelt, but saved by Buffy Summers 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 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, now being in the same year as the rest of the gang, and graduates simultaneously with them. 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 have sex before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor Wilkins, concerned that they might die in battle. Willow loses her virginity as a result, but Oz was not a virgin.
After graduation, he attends the university of 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. 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) during the fight against the mayor, he now locks himself up into a cage in a crypt at a local cemetery.
However, gradually, the wolf personality seems to contaminate Oz's human side, and although in love with Willow, he is irresistibly drawn to another werewolf, Veruca, a fellow student at UC Sunnydale, 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.
Some months later, Oz returns to Sunnydale, believing that his lycanthropy is now under control through techniques learned in Tibet. Although the moon no longer affects him, he can still transform into the werewolf when faced with strong emotion, such as anger, fear, 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 move on and pursue his film career). He is last seen in Willow's dream in the episode "Restless," as she meets him in college. Oz is not seen again for the remainder of the series' run. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Note: There were plans of bringing Oz to L.A and Angel if there had been a season six of Ats. He would then had been a kind of mentor or another for Nina.
POST SUNNYDALE
Following his departure in "Wild at Heart", Oz's quest to control his wolf-side is continued in non-canon material such as the Oz comic book and the novel Oz: Into the Wild. Travelling through Los Angeles, Fiji, Australia, and China, he befriends a Kaohsiung demon named Jinan, with whom he eventually travels to Tibet in search of a monk named Master Shantou, who can help him discover more about the beast within himself. However, the monk's enemy, an evil demon named Muztag, is gathering forces to take over the Tibetan valley and murder Master Shantou. Meanwhile, Gib Cain, the werewolf hunter from Phases, is determined to take advantage of Oz's separation from the Slayer to take revenge on the only wolf to ever escape him. Oz and Jinan work together to defeat Cain and Muztag, with Oz finally learning how to use the wolf within for his advantage.
Powers and abilities
Oz is a werewolf, meaning that he has the potential to transform into a berserk, lupine creature with enhanced strength, speed, 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 little-known condition. He prefers to stay human, and only changes under great emotional stress (compare to The Incredible Hulk). He is somewhat more dangerous as a result. 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 scared from this scent, mimicking the ability apocryphally 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.
Romantic Relationships