Ransom is the principal character of C.S. Lewis’s 1938 novel Out of the Silent Planet.
Ransom is an English philologist who is kidnapped and taken to Mars, called Malacandra in the novel. The book follows his escape from his captors and his encounters with the planet’s intelligent species and distinctive cultures.
The character’s surname reflects Lewis’s interest in language, myth, and Christian ideas. Ransom is not presented simply as an action hero; his scholarly knowledge helps him communicate and interpret the unfamiliar society he encounters. The novel therefore combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological speculation.
Out of the Silent Planet is the first volume of Lewis’s Space Trilogy. Its sequels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Weston and Devine are important figures in the novel, but neither is its central protagonist.