In C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, Malacandra is the fictional name for Mars.
Malacandra appears most prominently in Out of the Silent Planet, published in 1938. The novel follows philologist Elwin Ransom after he is taken to the planet by the scientist Weston and his associate Devine. On Malacandra, Ransom encounters several intelligent species and learns that Earth is known as Thulcandra, the “silent planet.”
Lewis used planetary romance to explore language, morality, colonialism, and Christian ideas. The invented names give the story an unfamiliar vocabulary while connecting it to older astronomical and mythological traditions. The trilogy’s later books move the action back toward Earth and into more explicitly theological territory.
Malacandra is often simply identified with Mars, but it is not a realistic depiction of the planet. Lewis’s Mars contains air, water, cities, and intelligent inhabitants, reflecting the speculative science-fiction conventions of the 1930s.