Oedipus #2

Diary entries from any of the characters

The Diary of Oedipus

The First Day of My Quest to Find the Killers of Laius

I must find the bandits who killed the king of this land, so that Apollo will free us from the harsh drought and famine that holds our land hostage. According to Creon, this must be done, and so I will most certainly accomplish my goal, regardless of who or what comes in my way. And when I find the killers of Laius, they will be killed, or at least banished for the remainder of their lives. This I am sure of.

That dreadful prophet Tiresias came by today at the request of Creon. His blindness surely impedes his ability to truly see the future, and I cannot trust anything he says. The man is a beggar, starved for attention, and I must pay his words no heed. He tells me to lay off my search? I say nay nay. I will find the killers and free my land from the grips of the famine, and my people will love me, because I am Oedipus. I freed the city of Thebes once from the ferocious terror of the sphinx, and I can do it again. Do not pray to the Gods, do not run in fear. I will find the killers and free my city.

Some of Tiresias' words frightened me more than others today. He mentioned how I must kill my father and marry my mother, and this disturbs me. My lineage is extremely important, and this turn of events would devastate me. Plus, how could I kill my father? He is in the far away city of Corinth, separated by hills and mountains, and as for marrying my mother, she is there as well. This future will never come to pass, and Tiresias will be proven wrong by my efforts. I will change my fate, and no God or man will hold me captive to a fate I do not desire. For that is the nature of men, the ability to change what they want and to make a difference in how events turn out.