Elwin Ransom
Encyclopedia
Elwin Ransom is the prominent character from C. S. Lewis
's Space Trilogy
series. He is the main character in the books Out of the Silent Planet
and Perelandra
, which are told almost entirely from his point of view. He is also a major character in the third book, That Hideous Strength
, in which he plays a director of an organization resisting the demonic take-over of the world, though his role is that of mentor in the book, with the main characters arguably being Mark and Jane Studdock.
Lewis' books belong to the unique genre which can be characterized as "Theological science fiction" or "Christian science fiction
", i. e., they assume the basic tenets of Christianity
are factually true: God
exists and He created the Universe and watches over everybody; Adam
and Eve
were real persons, the ancestors of everybody, and they were tempted by The Serpent/Satan
to disobey God - with very serious consequences; Jesus
really is the Son of God
and He truly died on the cross in order to redeem Humanity; Satan
is present, trying all the time to tempt people into selling him their souls, and those who are so tempted suffer a very terrible Perdition
; and so on. With the tenents of Christianity being accepted as fact, the story then moves on to various sci-fi tropes within that framework.
The factual veracity of all this is a basic premise on which the books' plot depends - though the reader is introduced to this premise gradually. In the first book, only hints are given which the reader must decode; but by the second part God, Satan and various Angels all step onstage and take a direct, visible and substantial part in the unfolding plot.
The character of Dr. Elwin Ransom is fundamental in conveying Lewis' message - i.e., to tell his 20th Century British reader that the Bible
is not about things which happened to exotic people in the Middle East thousands of years ago. Rather, such things are equally real and could equally happen in the here-and-now - in token of which Lewis proceeds to show in detail how they do happen to an ordinary Englishman of the middle Twentieth Century, a Cambridge
don
who is likable but a very fallible human being.
By the third book, Ransom has been transformed by his experiences into an awe-inspiring Prophet
or Saint
, who is seen from the outside. The role of conveying to the reader that supernatural Bible-like things can happen to ordinary people in the here-and-now is transferred to a couple of younger and even more fallible scholars from whose point of view the story is then told.
reveal that he had fought in the First World War, that he had been on the Somme
and that on one occasion he had to overcome considerable trepidation before accepting - and successfully implementing - an unspecified "very dangerous job".
Accordingly, Ransom's birth has to be placed in 1899 or 1900 at the latest - assuming that he had fought only in 1918, the war's last year; if he had already been on the Somme in 1916, he must have been born in 1897 or 1898 at the latest. This fits with the mention of his being "middle aged" at the time of "Perelandra" in the 1940s. Lewis might have conceived of Ransom as being his own age, i.e., born in 1898; J.R.R. Tolkien, one of Lewis's inspirations for the character, was born in 1892.
The book explicitly notes that the horrors Ransom had witnessed on the battlefield did not destroy his sensitivity for suffering, even the suffering of animals.
It is also mentioned that at some later point in his life he had "to screw up his resolution to go and see a certain man in London and make to him an excessively embarrassing confession which justice demanded" -- which Ransom eventually did, and of which no further details are given.
He is a philologist by profession (like Tolkien), which gives him a unique aptitude for learning languages. He speculates that this ability is the reason that he is 'chosen' for his role in the first and second books, although he notes in Perelandra that it might as well have been anyone else.
A professor in Cambridge
, he is highly regarded (even by his enemies, who in That Hideous Strength
mention him as among the topmost in his field, who but for his Christian convictions might have rendered very useful service to their cause).
He is a confirmed bachelor (as Lewis himself was at the time of writing), and in none of the three books is there any mention of a woman in his life. Nor does he have many male friends, either; when first introduced, he is in the habit of spending his university holidays hiking alone through the British countryside (which facilitates Weston's kidnapping him). By the end of the series, the wound sustained at Perelandra would preclude his continuing this habit.
After his sojourn on Malacandra/Mars, Ransom is mentioned as staying for a prolonged period at a cottage three miles outside "Worchester", having evidently left temporarily or permanently his Cambridge job. From there he sets out to his voyage to Perelandra
/Venus.
While on Venus, Ransom becomes in effect a prophet
in the Biblical sense - i.e., a person to whom God speaks and on whom a specific Divine command is imposed (and who, like Jonah
, strongly resists and makes a considerable effort to avoid, before bowing to the inevitable).
The permanent wound on his heel resulted from a physical battle with the Satanically-possessed Professor Weston
in the deep caverns of Perelandra. It causes him continuing pain which he feels it is his duty to endure, refusing to relieve it either through medicine or through Merlin
's magic.
The wound may refer to Genesis 3:15, where God curses the Snake for his tempting of Eve and causing the Original Sin
: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.(NIV)" The Biblical Snake is commonly considered in Christianity to have been a manifestation of Satan; so was the possessed Professor Weston. Thus, Weston could be considered an "offspring" of the Snake, and such he did bite the heel of Ransom and got his own head crushed.
This wound is also a possible reference to the unhealing wound of Anfortas, the ailing Grail King of Arthurian legend, which was a major theme in some of Charles Williams
' works, a significant influence to the Space Trilogy.
At some time between the second and third book, Ransom's life was further transformed radically by becoming the secret Pendragon
, the latest in an unbroken chain of secret inheritors of King Arthur
who, it turns out, had been watching over Britain and helping their country in various crisis points in its history - a role which is crucially important to his relationship with the reawakened wizard Merlin
. He establishes a kind of secret community at a big house in St. Anne's, which he heads and which is the polar opposite and center of opposition to the literally Satanic institute of N.I.C.E. which is threatening to take over the world. There, he is in regular contact with the descending "gods" of the Greaco-Roman Pantheon (who are in fact no gods at all, but angels and faithful servant of the true, one and only God).
The third book, unlike the earlier two, is not told through Ransom's own eyes. He has become too much of an august and hieratic personage, seen mainly through the eyes of the book's female protagonist, who falls in love with him - hopelessly, as she realizes from the start, especially since he is a firm upholder of the sanctity of marriage and firmly wants her to be reconciled with her estranged husband.
In the end, Ransom's role as a saint or prophet is enhanced by his being taken alive into Heaven (actually, back to Venus/Perelandra), an honour reserved only to a very small handful of particularly deserving Biblical and mythical characters.
As is true with most of Lewis' writing, the Space Trilogy has religious symbolism in which Ransom takes on the role of a prophet
preparing for the end times
by resisting demonic forces on Earth
and Perelandra. Even his last name is meant to be reminiscent of the sacrifice of Jesus
.
Elwin Ransom may be based on C. S. Lewis' friend J. R. R. Tolkien
("Elwin" means "Elf friend" in Anglo-Saxon), though he seems to have autobiographical elements. In That Hideous Strength
Ransom, with his royal charisma and matter-of-fact breezy acceptance of the supernatural, appears less like Tolkien than like Charles Williams
(or some of the heroes in Williams' books).
In the final chapter of the first book, the author flatly states that "Elwin Ransom" is a pseudonym; however, in the second book, great significance is attached to his surname (with a divine voice saying "It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom"), indicating that this is in fact the character's real name. The inconsistency was never explained.
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's Space Trilogy
Space Trilogy
The Space Trilogy, Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy is a trilogy of science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis, famous for his later series The Chronicles of Narnia. A philologist named Elwin Ransom is the hero of the first two novels and an important character in the third.The books in the trilogy...
series. He is the main character in the books Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet
Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of a science fiction trilogy written by C. S. Lewis, sometimes referred to as the Space Trilogy, Ransom Trilogy or Cosmic Trilogy. The other volumes are Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, and a fragment of a sequel was published posthumously as The...
and Perelandra
Perelandra
Perelandra is the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, set in the Field of Arbol...
, which are told almost entirely from his point of view. He is also a major character in the third book, That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
, in which he plays a director of an organization resisting the demonic take-over of the world, though his role is that of mentor in the book, with the main characters arguably being Mark and Jane Studdock.
Lewis' books belong to the unique genre which can be characterized as "Theological science fiction" or "Christian science fiction
Christian science fiction
Christian science fiction is a subgenre of both Christian literature and science fiction, in which there are strong Christian themes, or which are written from a Christian point of view. These themes may be subtle, expressed by way of analogy, or more explicit. Major influences include early...
", i. e., they assume the basic tenets of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
are factually true: God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
exists and He created the Universe and watches over everybody; Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
and Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
were real persons, the ancestors of everybody, and they were tempted by The Serpent/Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
to disobey God - with very serious consequences; Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
really is the Son of God
Son of God
"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
and He truly died on the cross in order to redeem Humanity; Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
is present, trying all the time to tempt people into selling him their souls, and those who are so tempted suffer a very terrible Perdition
Perdition
Perdition may refer to:*Hell in Christian beliefs*Son of perdition*Perdition , by Jim Allen*Road to Perdition , a series of fictional works by Max Allan Collins...
; and so on. With the tenents of Christianity being accepted as fact, the story then moves on to various sci-fi tropes within that framework.
The factual veracity of all this is a basic premise on which the books' plot depends - though the reader is introduced to this premise gradually. In the first book, only hints are given which the reader must decode; but by the second part God, Satan and various Angels all step onstage and take a direct, visible and substantial part in the unfolding plot.
The character of Dr. Elwin Ransom is fundamental in conveying Lewis' message - i.e., to tell his 20th Century British reader that the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
is not about things which happened to exotic people in the Middle East thousands of years ago. Rather, such things are equally real and could equally happen in the here-and-now - in token of which Lewis proceeds to show in detail how they do happen to an ordinary Englishman of the middle Twentieth Century, a Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
don
University don
A don is a fellow or tutor of a college or university, especially traditional collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England.The term — similar to the title still used for Catholic priests — is a historical remnant of Oxford and Cambridge having started as ecclesiastical...
who is likable but a very fallible human being.
By the third book, Ransom has been transformed by his experiences into an awe-inspiring Prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
or Saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
, who is seen from the outside. The role of conveying to the reader that supernatural Bible-like things can happen to ordinary people in the here-and-now is transferred to a couple of younger and even more fallible scholars from whose point of view the story is then told.
Ransom's Life and Character
Some casual references in PerelandraPerelandra
Perelandra is the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, set in the Field of Arbol...
reveal that he had fought in the First World War, that he had been on the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
and that on one occasion he had to overcome considerable trepidation before accepting - and successfully implementing - an unspecified "very dangerous job".
Accordingly, Ransom's birth has to be placed in 1899 or 1900 at the latest - assuming that he had fought only in 1918, the war's last year; if he had already been on the Somme in 1916, he must have been born in 1897 or 1898 at the latest. This fits with the mention of his being "middle aged" at the time of "Perelandra" in the 1940s. Lewis might have conceived of Ransom as being his own age, i.e., born in 1898; J.R.R. Tolkien, one of Lewis's inspirations for the character, was born in 1892.
The book explicitly notes that the horrors Ransom had witnessed on the battlefield did not destroy his sensitivity for suffering, even the suffering of animals.
It is also mentioned that at some later point in his life he had "to screw up his resolution to go and see a certain man in London and make to him an excessively embarrassing confession which justice demanded" -- which Ransom eventually did, and of which no further details are given.
He is a philologist by profession (like Tolkien), which gives him a unique aptitude for learning languages. He speculates that this ability is the reason that he is 'chosen' for his role in the first and second books, although he notes in Perelandra that it might as well have been anyone else.
A professor in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, he is highly regarded (even by his enemies, who in That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
mention him as among the topmost in his field, who but for his Christian convictions might have rendered very useful service to their cause).
He is a confirmed bachelor (as Lewis himself was at the time of writing), and in none of the three books is there any mention of a woman in his life. Nor does he have many male friends, either; when first introduced, he is in the habit of spending his university holidays hiking alone through the British countryside (which facilitates Weston's kidnapping him). By the end of the series, the wound sustained at Perelandra would preclude his continuing this habit.
After his sojourn on Malacandra/Mars, Ransom is mentioned as staying for a prolonged period at a cottage three miles outside "Worchester", having evidently left temporarily or permanently his Cambridge job. From there he sets out to his voyage to Perelandra
Perelandra
Perelandra is the second book in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis, set in the Field of Arbol...
/Venus.
While on Venus, Ransom becomes in effect a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
in the Biblical sense - i.e., a person to whom God speaks and on whom a specific Divine command is imposed (and who, like Jonah
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
, strongly resists and makes a considerable effort to avoid, before bowing to the inevitable).
The permanent wound on his heel resulted from a physical battle with the Satanically-possessed Professor Weston
Professor Weston
Professor Weston is arguably one of C. S. Lewis's greatest satanic characters. An eminent physicist on earth, he first appears in Lewis’s Out of the Silent Planet, which is the first in Lewis’s Space Trilogy...
in the deep caverns of Perelandra. It causes him continuing pain which he feels it is his duty to endure, refusing to relieve it either through medicine or through Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
's magic.
The wound may refer to Genesis 3:15, where God curses the Snake for his tempting of Eve and causing the Original Sin
Original sin
Original sin is, according to a Christian theological doctrine, humanity's state of sin resulting from the Fall of Man. This condition has been characterized in many ways, ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred...
: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.(NIV)" The Biblical Snake is commonly considered in Christianity to have been a manifestation of Satan; so was the possessed Professor Weston. Thus, Weston could be considered an "offspring" of the Snake, and such he did bite the heel of Ransom and got his own head crushed.
This wound is also a possible reference to the unhealing wound of Anfortas, the ailing Grail King of Arthurian legend, which was a major theme in some of Charles Williams
Charles Williams (UK writer)
Charles Walter Stansby Williams was a British poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and member of the Inklings.- Biography :...
' works, a significant influence to the Space Trilogy.
At some time between the second and third book, Ransom's life was further transformed radically by becoming the secret Pendragon
Pendragon
Pendragon or Pen Draig, meaning "head dragon" or "chief dragon" , is the name of several traditional Kings of the Britons:...
, the latest in an unbroken chain of secret inheritors of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
who, it turns out, had been watching over Britain and helping their country in various crisis points in its history - a role which is crucially important to his relationship with the reawakened wizard Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
. He establishes a kind of secret community at a big house in St. Anne's, which he heads and which is the polar opposite and center of opposition to the literally Satanic institute of N.I.C.E. which is threatening to take over the world. There, he is in regular contact with the descending "gods" of the Greaco-Roman Pantheon (who are in fact no gods at all, but angels and faithful servant of the true, one and only God).
The third book, unlike the earlier two, is not told through Ransom's own eyes. He has become too much of an august and hieratic personage, seen mainly through the eyes of the book's female protagonist, who falls in love with him - hopelessly, as she realizes from the start, especially since he is a firm upholder of the sanctity of marriage and firmly wants her to be reconciled with her estranged husband.
In the end, Ransom's role as a saint or prophet is enhanced by his being taken alive into Heaven (actually, back to Venus/Perelandra), an honour reserved only to a very small handful of particularly deserving Biblical and mythical characters.
As is true with most of Lewis' writing, the Space Trilogy has religious symbolism in which Ransom takes on the role of a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
preparing for the end times
End times
The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
by resisting demonic forces on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and Perelandra. Even his last name is meant to be reminiscent of the sacrifice of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
.
Elwin Ransom may be based on C. S. Lewis' friend 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,...
("Elwin" means "Elf friend" in Anglo-Saxon), though he seems to have autobiographical elements. In That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
Ransom, with his royal charisma and matter-of-fact breezy acceptance of the supernatural, appears less like Tolkien than like Charles Williams
Charles Williams (UK writer)
Charles Walter Stansby Williams was a British poet, novelist, theologian, literary critic, and member of the Inklings.- Biography :...
(or some of the heroes in Williams' books).
In the final chapter of the first book, the author flatly states that "Elwin Ransom" is a pseudonym; however, in the second book, great significance is attached to his surname (with a divine voice saying "It is not for nothing that you are named Ransom"), indicating that this is in fact the character's real name. The inconsistency was never explained.