Oz's History
Sunnydale High
Senior year
Oz noticed Willow wearing an Eskimo costume during the Cultural Exchange Dance at the Bronze nightclub and demonstrated interest in her at first sight.He saw her from afar as well during Halloween, and expressed admiration for her again. It would take a while for the two to actually meet in person, at a secluded lounge area when they both were potential recruits for a leading software company.
They started seeing each other after he protected her from being shot by the Order of Taraka assassin Patrice during the Career Fair. Patrice, who was disguised as a police officer, was aiming for the Slayer, Buffy Summers, but accidentally shot Oz in the arm. The wound was superficial but he did spend some time with his arm in a sling. Though Oz and Willow had several dates after this, they went into what Willow described as "some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding or... anything else."
Oz witnessed a vampire being dusted by Buffy while he was Willow's date at a surprise birthday party, thus becoming a member of the Scooby Gang. At the event, he remarked that the existence of vampires explained a lot. When the Scooby Gang attempted to stop the Judge, Oz assisted in obtaining a rocket launcher by taking them to a military compound in his van. He also suggested the Sunnydale Mall as the place where the Judge would likely attempt to massacre a large number of people, which turned out to be correct.
Soon after, Oz discovered that he had become a werewolf, turning into a monster on the night of the full moon and the two nights surrounding it. He had been bitten by his pre-adolescent cousin Jordy when he tickled him. He called his aunt Maureen to ask if he was indeed a werewolf, who confirmed her son's condition.
Worried that the Scoobies would have to kill him, Oz hid that he was the one who during attacked at Lovers' Lane and the Bronze during his transformation. On the third full moon night, Oz attempted to restrain himself with shackles and chains, but Willow interrupted his attempt when she arrived to confront him about his recent distant behavior. After transforming, Oz chased after Willow, but he was nearly killed by werewolf hunter Gib Cain for his pelt, but was saved by Buffy and the Scooby Gang. The following morning, Oz suggested staying out of Willow's way for a while, but she assured him she was okay with him being in her way, so they shared their first kiss.
With the Scoobies' help, Oz 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. He also 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.
Repeated senior year
Due to several in-completes and failing to attend summer school, Oz did not graduate with the rest of his class and was forced to repeat his senior year. This put him in the same class as the rest of the gang.
Before Buffy returned to Sunnydale after she left for Los Angeles in the previous months, Oz accompanied Willow, Xander and Cordelia Chase in hunting vampires. However, their joint effort wasn't very effective: he claimed they had a success rate of six out of ten.[16] Upon Buffy's arrival back, he with his friends organized Buffy's welcome back party 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 Jeffrey Walken. It turned out he had actually been killed by the mutated Pete Clarner, who then also tried to kill Oz because he suspected he was involved with his girlfriend Debbie Foley. This was during sunset of a full moon night, however, so Pete forced Oz out of his cage just before Oz transformed. This made them 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 ventilation shafts of the building where the executions where going to take place. Their efforts were overshadowed by the rescue from Rupert Giles and Cordelia Chase, however. Willow's mother forgot everything about the ordeal except for Willow telling her she was dating a musician, forcing Oz to meet Willow's parents at dinner.
Oz was briefly released in wolf form when the Sisterhood of Jhe attempted to open the Hellmouth. In the school's basement 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 Oz mentioned that he felt "full," but didn't know why.
After Willow and Xander were kidnapped and trapped by the vampire Spike, Oz and Cordelia were able to track them down using Oz's heretofore unknown enhanced sense of smell. They found Willow and Xander kissing, causing Oz to break up with Willow. They got back together several weeks later after Oz confessed he missed her.
Oz was held hostage by Willow's vampire counterpart from an alternative dimension when she raided the Bronze. Oz attempted to speak to her but was only recognized as his own counterpart from her dimension, a vampire hunter.
Oz and Willow had sex before the impending confrontation with the evil Mayor Richard Wilkins, concerned that they might die in battle. Willow lost her virginity while Oz, despite having already lost his, admitted that "everything is different." He took part in Graduation Day battle, commanding a number of students armed with bows with flaming arrows. After the high school blew up, Oz remarked that they survived, to which Buffy agreed saying it was "one heck of a battle." He corrected her that he did not mean the the battle, but high school.
College
After graduating, he attended UC Sunnydale with Buffy and Willow and enrolled in Introduction to Psychology by Professor Maggie 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 Sunnydale High during the fight against the Mayor, he locked himself up in 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. He traveled to L.A. and dropped it off at Angel Investigations while he was in the city for a gig. Before returning to Sunnydale, Oz helped Cordelia, Doyle, and Angel prevent Spike from getting the Gem of Amarra. Spike had 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 building that Angel was kept in, rescuing Angel and then taking him to the pier where Marcus was, who had had taken the gem himself.
Despite the appearance that he had come to terms with his lycanthropy rather easily, it turned out he did hold great fear of his werewolf side. During a Halloween party, the fear demon Gachnar was summoned, whose presence materialized the fears of everyone withing the building. This caused Oz 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 both of them, but didn't go through with it. The following morning, Oz resolved to immediately leave Sunnydale so as not to endanger his friends further. He dropped out of UC Sunnydale and left in his van, only taking a few essentials with him. He later contacted Devon to send the rest of his belongings to him but did not contact Willow, which greatly upset her.
Oz traveled on the 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 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, 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 take the wolf form when faced with strong emotion ("negative stimulation"), such as anger or pain. This transformation could occur during the day. He was unaware of this and unintentionally transformed when he discovered that Tara Maclay had replaced him in Willow's affections. He chased her through 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 among 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 caught 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, she 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 the wolf, but to let its energy flow through them without taking them, letting it pass into the world around them, so "the wolf is pulled into the earth."
Oz and Bayarmaa became involved and eventually had a son together, whom they named Kelden.
The word about their accomplishments spread, prompting other werewolves to come to Tibet in hope of a cure. One of them was Monroe, who, although his progress was promising, went out into the world too soon. He "got tempted, lost his focus, forgot 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 the monastery, Oz agreed to attempt a similar suppression for Willow and the Slayers' magical powers as Twilight, homing 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. After the battle, Willow assured Oz they would leave after clearing up their mess and apologized for bringing war to a place of peace. Oz responded that, as this was Tibet, they were not the first to do so.
