But the Trilogy is Over!

Sauron's Tower starting to fall from Return of the King, the third installment of the Lord of the Rings

Emperor Palpatine's statue being toppled from Return of the Jedi, DVD special edition.  The third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy.

 

I've sometimes wondered at the blatant use of imagery in this scene from the Iraq war.  In the years that followed, I wonder how many people were complaining that this scene from the end of movie trilogies was being played out, but now there was a book 4?  Book 5!?  Book 6!?!  The story isn't over yet?!?  WTF!!!!!!!! 

 

Some critics of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series have commented on how long the books keep dragging the story out.  "The author is just being greedy!"  In an age of trilogies, a man who was a graduate of a military college started to write a story about a world war and the story got long.  More characters introduced, more characters dying, more complexities and simply having the protagonist be the most powerful on the battlefield wasn't enough to tie up the story with a pretty bow in 300 pages or less.  "How are we supposed to make a movie under 3 hours with this material!?!"

 

I'm looking forward to Book #12 of the Wheel of Time (if you don't count the prequel, which would make this #13).  The war story that Robert Jordan foresaw outlived even the author, who had to give his notes to Brandon Sanderson to finish after his untimely death. 

 

Was Robert Jordan being greedy?  Or did he maybe know something about the truth of war that we might do well to never forget?