In Books Four through Six, Spenser seems to change the direction of the epic somewhat, possibly curtailing his ambition to reach twelve Books in total. Arthur still becomes an important figure in the epic, with his quest to reach Gloriana forming the backdrop to his interactions with the central knights of each Book, but the latter three Books are more intertwined than are the first three. Book 1 seems to be literarily perfect as a stand-along story, whereas the other books leave an increasing number of unresolved plot threads to be resolved in later sections. Nonetheless, the six books Spenser managed to complete have their own internal consistency and leave nothing for a seventh section to wrap up. Edmund Spenser died before he could complete another book of The Faerie Queene.