Ozbert

Ozbert is the slash ship between Oz Vessalius and Gilbert Nightray from the Pandora Hearts fandom.

Canon
Oz and Gilbert met at the ages of 10 and 9. Gilbert had been found injured outside of the Vessalius' gate to the abyss and Oscar introduced him to Oz as his new servant. After Gilbert had signed a contract agreeing to be the servant, Oscar was leaving the room. Nervous, Gilbert ran after him only to trip on a rug and cause a vase to fall. Before the vase could hit Gilbert, Oz leaned over him to be hit instead claiming "It's the master's duty to protect his servant." Gilbert was upset thinking he didn't deserve it, but Oz assured him he did. This was the event cementing their friendship.

Throughout Oz and Gilbert's childhood, they became close friends despite their master-servant relationship. Gilbert was Oz's favorite person to bully and was frequently the target of his teasing and tricks. Gilbert became very protective over Oz during the five years they were together. He even went so far as to stand up to Zai after rejecting Oz. They would often get in trouble together even if Oz was the trouble maker and Gilbert the victim. They stayed inseparable until Oz was banished to the abyss.

After Oz returned from the abyss 10 years later, Gilbert had introduced himself as Raven in fear that Oz would reject him and his changes. When Oz learned of Raven's true identity he assured Gilbert that no matter how much he changed, he would always be the same Gilbert. He accepted him back as a servant and a friend. Unfortunately the friendship wasn't the same with the addition of Alice. Many moments where Oz and Gilbert could have been alone were interrupted by Alice intruding or taking Oz away. Gilbert felt rejected but stayed around due to loyalty towards Oz as a master.

Nearing the end, Gilbert has his loyalty tested after learning he was originally a servant of Oswald Baskerville. Oswald ordered Gilbert to shoot Oz, which Gilbert had been forced to do because of a curse put on him. He ran off after this as Oz was taken away. Given the choice of staying with the Baskervilles, Gilbert broke the curse bound to him and remained by Oz's side. While Oz called Gilbert stupid for this, he was thankful and happy Gilbert returned.

At the end, nothing could be done to save Oz. He, along with Alice, had to die. Gilbert promised he would wait 100 years to meet them in the cycle. In retrace 104, all three reunite after over 100 years of Gilbert waiting. Oz says he doesn't have much of the memories of his past life, but it is implied he stays with Gilbert anyways.

Quotes
"Protecting the master... is supposed to be my job!"

- Gilbert to Oz.

"Even now, I want to stay as your servant."

- Gilbert to Oz.

"I want you to learn to call me simply "Oz"... by the time we're grown up."

- Oz to Gilbert.

Fanon
Ozbert is the second most popular ship in the fandom, once the most popular ship in the fandom. Pandora Hearts has been mistaken as BL by some because of their relationship. Oz and Gilbert are shipped because of their very close friendship that can be interpreted as more. Omakes in both the anime and manga are seen by shippers as clues that Gilbert has some feelings of romance towards Oz, but nothing is confirmed.

Ozbert is a controversial ship in the fandom. It indeed an underage ship, but this is sometimes debated based on how Oz's age is calculated. Oz gets out of the abyss at 15, after a 10 years time skip that leaves Gilbert to be 24, despite the two characters having been 15 and 14 before Oz fell. Oz is refered to as 25 by Oscar and also underwent a Coming of Age ceremony to consider him an adult, but in the end, he has not aged neither physically nor mentally past 15, effectively making him a child. The pre-abyss ship is accepted as Oz and Gilbert are 15 and 14.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * In Pandora Hearts second anime omake, Gilbert was shown "proposing" to Oz.