Laius probably doesn't earn too much sympathy from anybody when he chooses to pierce his baby boy's ankles and abandon him on a mountainside. No doubt, he has good reason to be afraid after the Oracle's prophesies that that baby will grow up to kill Laius and sleep with Jocasta. The Oracle's prophecies may be cryptic, but one way or another, they always come true. What would you do in his place, if you knew for a fact that your kid would do this messed up stuff? Ugh. Life is too complicated, right?