Re: Another question about Oz

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

I can't remember, and I did a Google-search and couldn't find, Giles
ever making a statement about scratches and lycanthropy.

I've been paying attention to this topic ever since Kirayoshi and I
debated whether scratches count (re his "Defenders of the Night" series)
and this is my current thought.

In "Phases", Oz asks if anyone got "bitten or scratched", which would
seem to imply that scratching would transform you into a werewolf.
However, Oz could simply be mistaken.

OTOH, in all the wolf-fights ("Phases", "Beauty and the Beasts", "Wild
at Heart", "New Moon Rising") they go to particular trouble to ensure
that no one who survives the episode gets scratched (Oz claws
RageMonsterPete in "BatB", but Angel makes the point moot by killing
him), which suggests that the show is operating under the "scratching
bad" principle.

The scratch in "Fear, Itself" didn't transform Willow, but I assume
that's because she wasn't really scratched. Just like the fact that Oz
didn't really wolf out and Willow wasn't really being attacked by her
lights and Xander wasn't really invisible. All of these things are
people's fears come to life, and hurting Willow is about as great a fear
as Oz has (until two episodes later when he starts slutting around with
the werewhore..grr). Since Oz is afraid he hurt her by scratching her,
I therefore figure that scratching would hurt, ie, be transformative (is
that a word?)

I don't think the lack of a full moon in "Fear, Itself" had anything to
do with Willow's not becoming a werewolf, since we know that the
werewolf doesn't have to be in wolf form to "infect" others. Remember,
Oz is a werewolf because his cousin, Jordy, bit him, when Jordy was in
human form.

Counterbalancing that is the fact that scratching is NOT a part of
passing on lycanthropy, according to traditional lore. But then, BtVS
has made its own rules for vampires, so why not werewolves, too?

I tend to think that scratching would do it, but I don't think it's ever
been conclusively stated.

Dan