Trilogy
Encyclopedia
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature
, film, or video games. Three-part works that are considered components of a larger work also exist in visual arts and music, such as the triptych
or the three-movement sonata
, but they are not commonly referred to with the term "trilogy."
Most trilogies are works of fiction
involving the same characters or setting, such as The Deptford Trilogy
of novel
s by Robertson Davies
or The Godfather
films of Francis Ford Coppola
. Others are connected only by theme: for example, each film of Krzysztof Kieślowski
's Three Colors
trilogy explores one of the political ideals of the French Republic (liberty, equality, fraternity
) and each novel in Paul Auster
's The New York Trilogy
uses formats from detective fiction
to explore existential
questions. Trilogies can also be connected in less obvious ways, such as The Nova Trilogy
of novels by William S. Burroughs
, each written using Brion Gysin
's cut-up technique
.
Occasionally, the term is applied to music, such as the Berlin Trilogy
of David Bowie
, linked together by their musical sound and lyrical themes, and the fact that part of them was recorded in Berlin, Germany.
Trilogies — and series in general — are common in science fiction
and fantasy
because of the artistic importance of complex ideas and the commercial importance of brand names.
festivals of ancient Greece
, for example, trilogies of plays
were performed followed by a fourth satyr play
. The Oresteia
is the only surviving trilogy of these ancient Greek plays, originally performed at the festival in Athens
in 458 BC
. The three Theban plays, or Oedipus
cycle, by Sophocles
, originating in 5th century BC, is not a true example of a trilogy because the plays were written at separate times and with different themes/purposes.
In ancient India
, an example of an early trilogy includes the epic
Mahabharata
, which originally consisted of three portions. Vyasa
's original core portion of the epic was the Jaya. Vaisampayana
's Bharata expanded on the story, with Vyasa's Jaya embedded within it. Ugrasrava eventually composed the Mahabharata, with both Vyasa's Jaya and Vaisampayana's Bharata embedded within the epic.
Richard Wagner
's epic series of operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen
, is sometimes referred to as a trilogy even though it consists of four works: Das Rheingold
, Die Walküre
, Siegfried
, and Götterdämmerung
. The first work, Das Rheingold, is more correctly considered a prelude despite the fact that it is longer than most operas. Performances of The Ring are usually billed as three nights plus a prelude.
Technical changes in printing and film in the mid to late 20th century made the creation of trilogies more feasible, while the development of mass media and modern global distribution networks has made them more likely to be lucrative.
By contrast, The Foundation Series
by Isaac Asimov
originally consisted of Foundation
, Foundation and Empire
and Second Foundation
and was considered a trilogy. Asimov wrote several more Foundation books and retroactively incorporated
many of his other works into the continuity
of the series. Despite this, the first three books are still considered a trilogy because they contain a story that is self-contained. Further complicating the matter, the Foundation series was originally eight short stories and novelettes written for science fiction magazines; its division into three books is more or less incidental.
The first three novels in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
series were dubbed a trilogy, and even after he extended the series, author Douglas Adams
continued to use the term for humorous effect - for example, calling Mostly Harmless
"the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy."
The six Star Wars
films are generally separated into two trilogies; the "original trilogy" (the three films released between 1977 and 1983) and the "prequel trilogy" (the three films released between 1999 and 2005, which take place before the original three films).
's fourth film
was released, his films Reservoir Dogs
, Pulp Fiction
, and Jackie Brown
were sometimes referred to as "the Quentin Tarantino trilogy", although the stories of the three films hardly interconnected.
Three works with similar themes from a creator may later come to be known as a trilogy, especially if produced one after the other. The Steven Spielberg
films A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
, Minority Report
, and Catch Me If You Can
are unofficially known as "the running man trilogy", because each featured a main character escaping a pursuer. Terry Gilliam
has dubbed his films Time Bandits
, Brazil
and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
as "The Imagination Trilogy", in that each movie has to do with the imagination of humans in the three stages of life: child, man, older man. Another example is the Dollars Trilogy
by Sergio Leone
; no continuity between the three movies was intended by Leone, but American marketers advertised the Clint Eastwood character in each film as being the same "Man with No Name
".
One of the most popular "trilogies" of fantasy
books, The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien
, is not a trilogy, though it is often referred to as such. Tolkien regarded it as a single work and divided it into a prologue, six books, and five appendices. Because of post-World War II paper shortages, it was originally published in three volumes. It is still most commonly sold as three volumes, but has also been published in one-volume and seven-volume editions (six books and the appendices).
Occasionally, more than three works are planned but never finished. The Gormenghast
fantasy trilogy is a trilogy by default, as author Mervyn Peake
planned to write more novels set in that fictional world until his health failed.
In contrast, some works that were originally intended to be trilogies have been reclassified due to subsequent additions. George R. R. Martin
's A Song of Ice and Fire
series was originally planned as a trilogy, but has already expanded to five published novels with another two planned. Christopher Paolini
changed the name of his "The Inheritance Trilogy" to The Inheritance Cycle, having announced that he would be writing a fourth book.
In some cases, a work is retroactively named a trilogy instead of having been designed as such by the authors, particularly if it is a story arc
of a continuously running series such a comic book or television show. This might be due to a vaguely recurring or coincidental theme in each installment. One example is issues 48, 49, and 50 of the original Fantastic Four
comic book which are notable for introducing the characters of Galactus
and Silver Surfer
. These are now commonly known as the Galactus Trilogy although the term wasn't used in the original issues.
In the modern era of home video
, story arcs from a long-running television series might be packaged as a trilogy boxset even if they weren't presented as such in the original broadcast. The so-called E-Space Trilogy of Doctor Who
includes the stories Full Circle
, State of Decay
, and Warriors Gate. Other than being consecutive stories set in E-Space, the three stories are self contained.
etymology
of "trilogy". Using the Greek numerical prefix
es, these would be as follows for series with between two and ten entries:
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, film, or video games. Three-part works that are considered components of a larger work also exist in visual arts and music, such as the triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
or the three-movement sonata
Sonata
Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
, but they are not commonly referred to with the term "trilogy."
Most trilogies are works of fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
involving the same characters or setting, such as The Deptford Trilogy
The Deptford Trilogy
The Deptford Trilogy is a novel trilogy by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies.-Overview:The trilogy consists of Fifth Business , The Manticore , and World of Wonders...
of novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s by Robertson Davies
Robertson Davies
William Robertson Davies, CC, OOnt, FRSC, FRSL was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies is variously said to have gladly accepted for himself...
or The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
films of Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
. Others are connected only by theme: for example, each film of Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...
's Three Colors
Three Colors
The Three Colours Trilogy is the collective title of three films – a trilogy – directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, two made in French and one primarily in Polish: Trois couleurs: Bleu , Trzy kolory: Biały , and Trois couleurs: Rouge...
trilogy explores one of the political ideals of the French Republic (liberty, equality, fraternity
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "Liberty, equality, fraternity ", is the national motto of France, and is a typical example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it was then only one motto among others and was not institutionalized until the Third...
) and each novel in Paul Auster
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
's The New York Trilogy
The New York Trilogy
The New York Trilogy is a series of novels by Paul Auster. Originally published sequentially as City of Glass , Ghosts and The Locked Room , it has since been collected into a single volume.- Plot introduction :...
uses formats from detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
to explore existential
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
questions. Trilogies can also be connected in less obvious ways, such as The Nova Trilogy
The Nova Trilogy
The Nova Trilogy, The Nova Epic or The Cut-up Trilogy is a name commonly given by critics to a series of three experimental prose novels by William S. Burroughs...
of novels by William S. Burroughs
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
, each written using Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin
Brion Gysin was a painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist born in Taplow, Buckinghamshire.He is best known for his discovery of the cut-up technique, used by his friend, the novelist William S. Burroughs...
's cut-up technique
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
.
Occasionally, the term is applied to music, such as the Berlin Trilogy
Berlin Trilogy
The Berlin Trilogy is a series of David Bowie albums recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno in the 1970s. The three albums are Low, "Heroes" and Lodger....
of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, linked together by their musical sound and lyrical themes, and the fact that part of them was recorded in Berlin, Germany.
Trilogies — and series in general — are common in science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
because of the artistic importance of complex ideas and the commercial importance of brand names.
History
Trilogies date back to ancient times. In the DionysiaDionysia
The Dionysia[p] was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-most important festival after the Panathenaia...
festivals of ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
, for example, trilogies of plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
were performed followed by a fourth satyr play
Satyr play
Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, similar in spirit to burlesque. They featured choruses of satyrs, were based on Greek mythology, and were rife with mock drunkenness, brazen sexuality , pranks, sight gags, and general merriment.Satyric drama was one of the three varieties of...
. The Oresteia
The Oresteia
The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. When originally performed it was accompanied by Proteus, a satyr play that would have been performed following the trilogy; it has not survived...
is the only surviving trilogy of these ancient Greek plays, originally performed at the festival in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 458 BC
458 BC
Year 458 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rutilus and Carvetus...
. The three Theban plays, or Oedipus
Oedipus
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
cycle, by Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
, originating in 5th century BC, is not a true example of a trilogy because the plays were written at separate times and with different themes/purposes.
In ancient India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
, an example of an early trilogy includes the epic
Indian epic poetry
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya . The Ramayana and Mahabharata, originally composed in Sanskrit and translated thereafter into many other Indian languages, are some of the oldest surviving epic poems on earth and form part of...
Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, which originally consisted of three portions. Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
's original core portion of the epic was the Jaya. Vaisampayana
Vaisampayana
Vaishampayana was the traditional narrator of the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. He was an ancient Indian sage who was the original teacher of the Black Yajur-Veda. The Ashvalayana Grihya Sutra mentions him as Mahabharatacharya...
's Bharata expanded on the story, with Vyasa's Jaya embedded within it. Ugrasrava eventually composed the Mahabharata, with both Vyasa's Jaya and Vaisampayana's Bharata embedded within the epic.
Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's epic series of operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, is sometimes referred to as a trilogy even though it consists of four works: Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
, Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
, Siegfried
Siegfried (opera)
Siegfried is the third of the four operas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of The Ring...
, and Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
. The first work, Das Rheingold, is more correctly considered a prelude despite the fact that it is longer than most operas. Performances of The Ring are usually billed as three nights plus a prelude.
Technical changes in printing and film in the mid to late 20th century made the creation of trilogies more feasible, while the development of mass media and modern global distribution networks has made them more likely to be lucrative.
Adding works to an existing trilogy
Creators of trilogies may later add more works. In such a case, the original three works may or may not keep the title "trilogy".By contrast, The Foundation Series
The Foundation Series
The Foundation Series is a science fiction series by Isaac Asimov. There are seven volumes in the Foundation Series proper, which in its in-universe chronological order are: Prelude to Foundation, Forward the Foundation, Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, and...
by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
originally consisted of Foundation
Foundation (novel)
Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy . Foundation is a collection of five short stories, which were first published together as a book by Gnome Press in 1951...
, Foundation and Empire
Foundation and Empire
Foundation and Empire is a novel written by Isaac Asimov that was published by Gnome Press in 1952. It is the second book published in the Foundation Series, and the fourth in the in-universe chronology...
and Second Foundation
Second Foundation
Second Foundation is the third novel published of the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and the fifth in the in-universe chronology. It was first published in 1953 by Gnome Press....
and was considered a trilogy. Asimov wrote several more Foundation books and retroactively incorporated
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
many of his other works into the continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
of the series. Despite this, the first three books are still considered a trilogy because they contain a story that is self-contained. Further complicating the matter, the Foundation series was originally eight short stories and novelettes written for science fiction magazines; its division into three books is more or less incidental.
The first three novels in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...
series were dubbed a trilogy, and even after he extended the series, author Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
continued to use the term for humorous effect - for example, calling Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless
Mostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It is described on the cover of the first editions as "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhikers Trilogy"...
"the fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named trilogy."
The six Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
films are generally separated into two trilogies; the "original trilogy" (the three films released between 1977 and 1983) and the "prequel trilogy" (the three films released between 1999 and 2005, which take place before the original three films).
Unofficial or mistaken trilogies
Sometimes a trio of works is known as a trilogy because of its creator. For example, before Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's fourth film
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
was released, his films Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
, Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, and Jackie Brown
Jackie Brown (film)
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films....
were sometimes referred to as "the Quentin Tarantino trilogy", although the stories of the three films hardly interconnected.
Three works with similar themes from a creator may later come to be known as a trilogy, especially if produced one after the other. The Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
films A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
A.I. (film)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, also known as A.I., is a 2001 science fiction drama film directed, produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg. Based on Brian Aldiss' short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long", the film stars Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Jude Law, Sam Robards, Jake Thomas...
, Minority Report
Minority Report (film)
Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C...
, and Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical comedy-drama film based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor...
are unofficially known as "the running man trilogy", because each featured a main character escaping a pursuer. Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
has dubbed his films Time Bandits
Time Bandits
Time Bandits is a 1981 British fantasy film produced and directed by Terry Gilliam.Terry Gilliam wrote the screenplay with fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin, who appears with Shelley Duvall in the small, recurring roles of Vincent and Pansy. The film is one of the most famous of more than...
, Brazil
Brazil (film)
Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a 1988 British adventure comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Robin Williams.-Plot:...
as "The Imagination Trilogy", in that each movie has to do with the imagination of humans in the three stages of life: child, man, older man. Another example is the Dollars Trilogy
Dollars Trilogy
The "Dollars Trilogy" , also known as the "Man with No Name Trilogy", refers to the three Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Sergio Leone: A Fistful of Dollars , For a Few Dollars More , and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly .A Fistful of Dollars is an unofficial remake of...
by Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
; no continuity between the three movies was intended by Leone, but American marketers advertised the Clint Eastwood character in each film as being the same "Man with No Name
Man with No Name
The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...
".
One of the most popular "trilogies" of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
books, The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, is not a trilogy, though it is often referred to as such. Tolkien regarded it as a single work and divided it into a prologue, six books, and five appendices. Because of post-World War II paper shortages, it was originally published in three volumes. It is still most commonly sold as three volumes, but has also been published in one-volume and seven-volume editions (six books and the appendices).
Occasionally, more than three works are planned but never finished. The Gormenghast
Gormenghast (series)
The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.-Works in the series:...
fantasy trilogy is a trilogy by default, as author Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
planned to write more novels set in that fictional world until his health failed.
In contrast, some works that were originally intended to be trilogies have been reclassified due to subsequent additions. George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin
George Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for A Song of Ice and Fire, his bestselling series of epic fantasy novels that HBO adapted for their dramatic pay-cable series Game of...
's A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of Ice and Fire
A Song of Ice and Fire is a series of epic fantasy novels by American novelist and screenwriter George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the series in 1991 and the first volume was published in 1996. Originally planned as a trilogy, the series now consists of five published volumes; a further two...
series was originally planned as a trilogy, but has already expanded to five published novels with another two planned. Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance...
changed the name of his "The Inheritance Trilogy" to The Inheritance Cycle, having announced that he would be writing a fourth book.
In some cases, a work is retroactively named a trilogy instead of having been designed as such by the authors, particularly if it is a story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
of a continuously running series such a comic book or television show. This might be due to a vaguely recurring or coincidental theme in each installment. One example is issues 48, 49, and 50 of the original Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four is a fictional superhero team appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The group debuted in The Fantastic Four #1 , which helped to usher in a new level of realism in the medium...
comic book which are notable for introducing the characters of Galactus
Galactus
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in comic books and other publications published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character debuted in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue story later known as "The Galactus...
and Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy"....
. These are now commonly known as the Galactus Trilogy although the term wasn't used in the original issues.
In the modern era of home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
, story arcs from a long-running television series might be packaged as a trilogy boxset even if they weren't presented as such in the original broadcast. The so-called E-Space Trilogy of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
includes the stories Full Circle
Full Circle (Doctor Who)
Full Circle is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 25 October to 15 November 1980...
, State of Decay
State of Decay
State of Decay is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1980. The serial was the second of three loosely connected serials known as the E-Space trilogy...
, and Warriors Gate. Other than being consecutive stories set in E-Space, the three stories are self contained.
Other numbered series
Words to describe sets of another number of works of art other than three are sometimes created by following the GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of "trilogy". Using the Greek numerical prefix
Numerical prefix
Number prefixes are prefixes derived from numbers or numerals. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as unicycle – bicycle – tricycle, dyad – triad – decade, biped – quadruped, September – October – November – December, decimal – hexadecimal,...
es, these would be as follows for series with between two and ten entries:
| Number in series | Word (Greek) | Word (variation) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | no Greek equivalent. | "Duology" (formed by mixing Latin (duo, "two") with Ancient Greek λόγος (logos, "speech", "account", "story")) has been used in some pairs of sci-fi novels. |
| 3 | Trilogy | |
| 4 | Tetralogy Tetralogy A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works.... |
"Quadrilogy" (formed by mixing Latin (quad, "four") with Ancient Greek λόγος (logos, "speech", "account", "story")) has been used to describe certain film series Film series A film series is a collection of related films in succession. Their relationship is not fixed, but generally share a common diegetic world. Sometimes the work is conceived as a multiple-film work, for example the Three Colours series, but in most cases the success of the original film inspires... (e.g. the Alien Quadrilogy). |
| 5 | Pentalogy Pentalogy A pentalogy is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of five distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works, and a tetralogy of four... |
|
| 6 | Hexalogy Hexalogy A hexalogy is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of six distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works, and a tetralogy of four. The word apparently first appeared in English as a borrowing from German, in discussions of August Bungert's Wagnerian opera cycle... |
|
| 7 | Heptalogy Heptalogy Heptalogy is a rarely used term for a series of seven creative works that are connected by a common storyline. One recent famous example is the Harry Potter series of books. The term is sometimes found in the nonce form septology, or in the form septet.... |
|
| 8 | Octalogy | |
| 9 | Ennealogy | |
| 10 | Decalogy |