Laius complex the complex have been particularly highlighted. One lays stress on the magical thinking behind the complex – the unconscious belief that if one has no successors, one will be effectively immortal. The other emphasises the narcissism in the Laius/Oedipus relationship – the belief that there is only room for a single figure to exist in life, leading inevitably to the destruction of the one or the other competitor, father or son. How far the playing down of the Laius neurosis (in orthodox psychoanalysis) can be linked to what Julia Kristeva called Freud's "paternal vision of childhood", remains for the 21st
Oedipus Rex descendants (although many scholars regard Laius' transgressions against Chrysippus to be a late addition to the myth). When his son is born, the king consults an oracle as to his fortune. To his horror, the oracle reveals that Laius "is doomed to perish by the hand of his own son". Laius binds the infant's feet together with a pin, and orders Jocasta to kill him. Unable to kill her own son, Jocasta orders a servant to slay the infant for her. The servant then exposes the infant on a mountaintop, where he is found and rescued by a shepherd (in