Trilogies are a common narrative structure in literature, film, and visual arts. Ancient Greek theatre featured trilogies, while modern trilogies follow the same characters across three stories. Trilogies can end with a final solution or a prequel to fill in backstory.
A trilogy is a series made up of three distinct works that share a common thread. Literature, film, and the visual arts are popular mediums for this format. Many artists and writers use trilogies to tell an intricate and often intense story, as the three sections of a literary trilogy often allow for a greater amount of detail and backstory than would be possible with a single story narrative form. The earliest known trilogies date back to ancient Greek theatre, and modern forms of this narrative structure usually have to meet certain criteria to be classified as true trilogies.
Fine artists who create paintings or sculptures may do so in a series of three works which are sometimes labeled a trilogy, although this classification is technically inaccurate. Three works of art are generally designated as a triptych when they can be included in a larger body of work by the same artist. A piece of classical music with three distinct sections is normally known as a sonata rather than a trilogy. The Dionysian theater festivals of ancient Greece were the setting for plays performed as trilogies, although some of them actually had four rather than three distinct sections.
Literature is one of the most common mediums for trilogies that follow the adventures of the same characters in all three stories. Authors of popular trilogies often end a story with a suspenseful situation, then readers have to move on to the next story to find out how it’s resolved. Fantasy and science fiction stories are usually the preferred genres for this three-part narrative structure. The exact plot and sequence of a three-book trilogy can follow one of a few different formats depending on the authors’ choices.
The first book in one of these trilogies usually introduces the characters, the setting, and the problems to be solved. A second book serves as a sequel often continuing the story of the first. The third installments of the trilogies can offer a final solution where all reader questions are answered and the full narrative is complete.
Some authors choose to create a prequel from the third book. In this case, the story flows backwards to a moment before the action of the first book takes place. The purpose of this structure is to fill in a backstory that gives the reader a greater understanding of the circumstances that initially set the entire narrative in motion.
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