Re: Another question about Oz

[Tater <tater@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:04 PM 9/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>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


The Buffy Monster Book says that they stuck with the classic structure for
werewolves. Quote from the book: "You get bitten, silver bullet, full
moon." No mention of scratches anywhere in the werewolf section.


tater (Vegetables of the world unite!)