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As an expected source of the truth and of the future, and as an unexpected source for the fulfillment of one's fate, the Delphic Oracle is important to Theban King Oedipus. That's why Oedipus goes to Delphi to check out a recent rumor. It's a case of an upsetting rumor that Oedipus isn't the biological son of the only people he believes to be his parents: King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth.

But under questioning, the Oracle describes Oedipus' fate as the killer of his own father and the wedder and bedder of his own mother. The Horror of such an unexpected response causes all questions as to his true parents to disappear. That same horror causes Oedipus to run away from home and try to start life afresh far away from Corinth.

But in the process, everything that Oedipus does just draws him closer to his nightmarish fate. And so ultimately, the Delphic Oracle ends up as the source of Oedipus' free will choices and actions that hand him over to his miserable destiny.

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Q: Why is the Delphic Oracle important to Oedipus?
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