C.S. Lewis’s space-trilogy protagonist is Elwin Ransom.
Ransom is the central character of Lewis’s science-fiction trilogy, beginning with Out of the Silent Planet. He is a Cambridge philologist who is abducted and taken to Malacandra, the planet commonly identified with Mars. His knowledge of languages becomes crucial as he encounters the planet’s intelligent species and cultures.
Ransom returns in Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, though the later novels broaden the series from planetary adventure into a larger conflict involving science, power, morality, and spiritual forces. The character’s academic profession reflects Lewis’s own interests in language, medieval literature, and philology.
Ransom is sometimes confused with Weston or Devine, the human antagonists who take part in the first book’s expedition. It is Ransom who serves as the trilogy’s principal viewpoint character and moral center, not either of those explorers.