Oz scratched Willow... so why didn't she become a werewolf??

[BuffyElevated]

In "Fear Itself", Oz starts to change into a werewolf because of the house's curse. Willow reaches out to him and he scratches her on the arm. Why did she not become a werewolf?? Do you think it was because it was a spell causing the change, or because the writers chose to forget about it? LOL

 

[JCoatsworth]

I think it's something entirely different. I think, to become a werewolf, another werewolf has to bit you and not just wound you.

 

[BuffyElevated]

Well, in "Phases" Oz is asking if anyone was bitten or scratched, so I thought it was assumed in the Buffyverse that if a wolf scratched you, you could turn.

 

[Skytteflickan88]

I'm thinking it must be a salivia thing, since it's seemingly a infection. Claws won't cause any damage, unless maybe they splinter and are left in the body. I think Oz in Phases might just have been assuming things. After all, he might not have read Giles' books and just gone by the legend.

 

[BuffyElevated]

I'm thinking it must be a salivia thing, since it's seemingly a infection. Claws won't cause any damage, unless maybe they splinter and are left in the body. I think Oz in Phases might just have been assuming things. After all, he might not have read Giles' books and just gone by the legend.

Good points... It's very possible that Oz could have just assumed that being scratched could cause someone to turn, because he hadn't read up about werewolves yet.

 

[Tuppence]

A lot of things in that house looked like they happened but didn't. Maybe they both thought he scratched her but it was just an illusion within the whole crazy madness of the house. Did she still have a scratch on her arm when they were back at Giles' afterwards? I can't remember.

Then again, the werewolf rules in season 2 when Oz first turns are never really set- there's just a generally mentioning from then on of scratching, biting, mauling (sp?) and so maybe it was at this point, they went 'let's make it official that it has to be a bite'?

 

[Evil Angelus 95]

I always thought that for a person to be turned into a werewolf, they had to be bitten. Scratching wouldn't generally affect a person unless it was an extremely deep scratch. They did something similar on Charmed where Piper was attacked and scartched by a Windego, and because she lost a lot of blood from the scratch, she eventually turned into one herself.

I guess its because there are so many variations on the werewolf 'rules', per say, kinda like with vampires.

 

[NY State of Mind]

He could of said scratched cause i know ive been scratched by dogs with their teeth so its a possibility if you have a scratch you should take caution since you dont know the source of the scratch

This is all speculation ofcourse...could just simply be a writer mistake or like you said maybe spells are different effects maybe like an illusion