and hieratic personage, seen mainly through the eyes of the book's female protagonist Jane Studdok, who falls in love with him — hopelessly, as she realizes from the start, especially since he is an unwavering upholder of the sanctity of marriage and clearly wants her to be reconciled with her estranged husband. In the final scene, Ransom kisses Jane for the first and last time, even while firmly commanding her to go to the bed of her waiting husband and to "Have no more dreams; have children instead" - which she does, while still feeling his kiss on her lips. 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. Origins and inspiration 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. References The Space Trilogy characters Fictional philologists Fictional linguists Fictional professors