Elwin Ransom is the main character in the first two books of C.S. Lewis' The Space Trilogy, namely Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. In the final book, That Hideous Strength, he is a lesser character (the main characters being Mark and Jane Studdock) in charge of a group that is resisting demons that are trying to take over Earth, and playing the role of a mentor. Ransom is a linguistics school professor at Cambridge, and a confirmed bachelor. According to several references in Perelandra, Ransom also served in the World War I, similarly to J.R.R. Tolkien, a good friend of C.S. Lewis. Ransom prefers to spend his holidays alone, hence his capture by the antagonists Weston and Devine. When he is captured, Ransom discovers his purpose is to serve as a 'ransom' for the entire human race allowing Weston and Devine to continue their explorations of the planet Malacandra (Mars). By That Hideous Strength, Ransom had been thoroughly changed by his experiences. Ransom's past role of imparting Bible-like occurrences is passed on to the Studdocks. Many books by C.S Lewis can be considered "Theological Science Fiction" or "Christian Science Fiction". This genre is uncommon, and depicts sci-fi stories with the basic beliefs of Christianity tied into them. Lewis' concept of Ransom Background Some casual references in Perelandra 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". However, it is noted that the horrors Ransom had witnessed on the battlefield did not destroy his sensitivity for suffering, even the suffering of animals. 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) and had waited to legal age before signing up; 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" during the events 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. It is also mentioned that at some later point in his life