Tetralogy
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/* Literary works */
{{for|the congenital heart condition|Tetralogy of Fallot}}
A '''tetralogy''' is a compound work that is made up of four ([[numerical prefix]] ''[[Wiktionary:tetra-|tetra-]]'') distinct works.
The name comes from the [[Attica|Attic]] [[theater]], where tetralogies were meant to be played in one sitting at the [[Dionysia]]. In more recent times, [[Shakespeare]] wrote two tetralogies, the first consisting of the three ''[[Henry VI]]'' plays and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', and the second consisting of ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', the two ''[[Henry IV, part 1|Henry IV]]'' plays, and ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''. Richard Wagner's "Der Ring der Nibelungen" - the 'Ring Cycle' - is also referred to as a tetralogy.
The word "tetralogy" is not commonly used in the marketing of collections of works. The term "quadrilogy" has also been used, basing the prefix on [[Latin language|Latin]] prefix [[Numerical prefix|quadri-]] instead of the Greek prefix. The musical term "quartet" is also used, as well as "legacy." The ''[[Alien (film series)|Alien]]'' and ''[[Batman (film series)|Batman]]'' series, each consisting of four films, have been released in collections titled ''The Alien Legacy'' and ''The Batman Legacy''. The ''Alien'' and ''[[Die Hard]]'' series have also been released in sets under the title ''The [[Alien Quadrilogy]]'' and ''The Die Hard Quadrilogy''.
==Famous tetralogies==
===Literary works===
In literature, the term Tetralogy has also been applied to [[novel]]s, [[Play (theatre)|plays]], and [[poetry]], such as:
*[[A. S. Byatt]]'s ''Frederica'' ''Quartet'' ([[The Virgin in the Garden]],[[Still Life]],[[Babel Tower]] and [[A Whistling Woman]])
* [[Lawrence Durrell]]'s ''[[Alexandria Quartet]]''
* [[Maggie Furey]]’s ''[[The Artefacts of Power|Artefacts of Power]]''
* [[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[Book of the New Sun]]'' and ''[[Book of the Long Sun]]''
* [[Jonathan Bayliss]]'s ''[[Gloucesterman]]''
* [[Thomas Harris]]'s [[Hannibal Lecter]] quartet
* [[Terry Brooks]]'s [[The Heritage of Shannara]] quartet
* [[Yaşar Kemal]]'s ''[[İnce Memed tetralogy|İnce Memed]]''
* [[Christopher Paolini]]'s ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]''
* [[Henry de Montherlant]]'s ''[[Les Jeunes Filles]]''
* [[Thomas Mann]]'s ''[[Joseph and His Brothers]]''
* [[T. H. White]]'s ''[[The Once and Future King]]''
* [[Ford Madox Ford]]'s ''[[Parade's End]]''
* [[John Updike]]'s ''Rabbit series ([[Rabbit, Run]]; [[Rabbit Redux]]; [[Rabbit is Rich]], [[Rabbit at Rest]])
* [[Paul Scott]]'s ''[[Raj Quartet]]''
* [[William Shakespeare]]'s sequence of history plays: ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]], [[1 Henry IV]], [[2 Henry IV]], [[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]''
* [[Claude Royet-Journoud]]'s ''Le Renversement'', ''La Notion d'Obstacle'', ''Les Objects contiennent l'infini'', and ''Les Natures indivisibles'' (poetry published between 1972 and 1997)
* [[Yukio Mishima]]'s ''[[The Sea of Fertility]]''
* [[E. E. Smith]]'s ''[[Skylark (series)|Skylark]]'' series
* [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Settling Accounts (Harry Turtledove)|Settling Accounts]]''
* [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''[[The Song of the Lioness]]''
* [[Sergei Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Night Watch (Russian novel)|Watch]]'' series
* [[S. M. Stirling]]'s ''[[Emberverse]]'' series ([[Dies the Fire]], [[The Protector's War]], [[A Meeting at Corvallis]])
===Movies===
{{main|List of film tetralogies}}
* ''[[Alien Quadrilogy]]''
* ''[[Die Hard series|Die Hard]]''
* ''[[Indiana Jones franchise]]''
* ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]''
* ''[[The Karate Kid]]''
* ''[[Lethal Weapon]]''
* ''[[Saw (film series)|Saw]]''
* ''[[Rambo]]''
* ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]''
* ''[[Scary Movie]]''
===Music===
* [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', a series of four epic [[music drama]]s.
* [[Coheed and Cambria]]'s ''[[The Amory Wars]]'' concept albums.
* [[Thrice]]'s ''[[The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II]]'' and ''[[The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV]]''
===Video games===
* ''[[.hack//Games]]''
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto]]'' (although, in theory, the series has more than four games, albeit only four 'numbered' games)
* [[Metal Gear Solid (series)]]
* ''[[Monkey Island]]''
* [[Devil May Cry (series)]]
* [[Metroid (series)]] The original Metroid series, not the Prime Sub [[Trilogy]] or the spinoffs
===Historical works===
*''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]'' by [[Winston Churchill]].
A series of four novels is also called a [[quartet]].
The [[20th Century Fox]] marketing team coined the nonstandard synonym "quadrilogy" for the release of their [[Alien (movie)|Alien]] DVD box set ''The [[Alien Quadrilogy]]'' and the ''[[Die Hard]]'' DVD box set ''The Die Hard Quadrilogy''. This uses the Latin numerical prefix quadri-/quadr-, instead of the usual Greek tetra-, with the Greek -logy.
==See also==
{{wiktionary|Tetralogy}}
* [[Sequel]]
* [[Duology]]
* [[Trilogy]]
* [[Heptalogy]]
[[Category:Narrative forms]]
[[Category:Series of books]]
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