Perelandra: Chapter 17

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read Perelandra now. I promise I won't be offended.

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The story so far: Our protagonist, Elwin Ransom, was brought to the planet Perelandra (Venus) by the Oyarsa of Malacandra (Mars), whom he encountered in the previous book, Out of the Silent Planet. His mission to Perelandra was, as yet, unknown.

Perelandra was a warm, overcast, ocean planet with next to no solid ground. What passed for land were floating mats of vegetation, where plants grew for food and friendly wildlife dwelt. Ransom also met a green human woman, who initially mistook him for the King, her male counterpart. She was apparently in close communication with Maleldil, the supreme spiritual ruler of the universe, who helped the Green Lady understand that Ransom was from a different world and his ways were different.

Ransom and the Green Lady visited the Fixed Land, one of Perelandra's few true islands. Maleldil had made a rule forbidding the King or the Green Lady from dwelling there, or even spending the night. They saw an object fall into the sea. It was a spherical spaceship, of the same kind in which Ransom was kidnapped and taken to Mars. In fact, they soon meet his abductor, Weston, on the beach.

Weston's humanistic, scientistic beliefs had evolved into a mystical form of emergent evolution. He now believed in a cosmic Force that directed his actions. When the Christian Ransom attempted to refute this belief, he became angry and was possessed by the Force. His own personality was apparently consumed, and he became the Un-Man. He escaped to the floating islands and attempted to persuade the Green Lady to violate Maleldil's law. While Ransom was there to refute his arguments, the Un-Man was relentless and had no need for sleep, and Ransom realized he could not keep up his side of the argument indefinitely.

Science Fiction-Free September 2026

It's September, and that's the month when I declare a moratorium on reading science fiction, usually in favour of something I wouldn't normally just casually pick up.

This year, though, I left the planning too late, and when it came down to figuring out what I might like to read this month, I didn't find myself too enthusiastic. Besides, there was a list of books on my to-read list that I was looking forward to, and I don't really feel like holding them back.

Perelandra: Chapter 16

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

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In a cave deep underground on Perelandra, Ransom defeated the Un-Man, killing the body of his foe Weston and throwing it into an underground fire. After this, he slowly found his way through the dark, subvenerean caverns, seeing sights there that were not meant for humans. Finally, he fell into an underground river, which swept him back to the surface, depositing him in a pool on the side of a mountain. There, he spent some time recovering from his injuries. One remained: a bite from Weston on his heel that would not stop bleeding.

Once he had recovered sufficiently, Ransom descended to the valley below, then ascended the great mountain on the other side. Though reluctant to continue, thinking himself to be approaching a holy place, he felt himself urged on. At the peak of the mountain was a basin or crater, completely covered in red flowers, with a pool at the centre. A coffin like the one that had brought him to Perelandra lay there, open and waiting to return him to Earth. He also perceived two spiritual presences with him.

Ransom recognizes the two beings as one is the Oyarsa of Malacandra (known here only by "Malacandra"; he explains that "Oyarsa" is a title reserved for one's own sphere) and the other is the Oyarsa of of Perelandra. Today is the day that the latter turns the rule of the planet over to the King and Queen. Such had not been possible on Thulcandra (Earth), but here Ransom has made it possible.

The Oyeresu decide it is time to show themselves, and after a few terrifying manifestations, they settle on humanoid figures, thirty feet tall, expressionless and sexless, and glowing white.

Perelandra: Chapter 15

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Ransom's battle with Weston, the Un-Man who came to Perelandra to corrupt it, took place over land, on the sea, and then deep underground, before Ransom finally won, bashing Weston's head with a stone and throwing him into the subterranean fires. Exhausted, he slept.

When he awakens, Ransom starts exploring the caverns, trying to find his way out of them. The sights he sees are indistinct and surreal, as though he is delirious from fatigue and unsure what is real. He sees many strange things underground: a vast, cathedral-like vault with two giant thrones, clearly not intended for Pereldandra's human inhabitants. Deep below him he sees more insectoid creatures like the one that had emerged from the depths with Weston, but there are harnessed to a cart carrying an upright, cloaked form.

After falling into an underground river and being whisked by the strong current through what appears to be a giant ice cave, he finds himself deposited on the edge of a large pool, in daylight. Ranson guesses himself to be atop a high mountain. He finds fruit to eat, and again falls asleep. On this ledge, he rests and recuperates from his fight for what seems to him to be only a day or so, but could have easily been weeks—he is unaware of the passage of time.

Perelandra: Chapter 14

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

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The final battle between Ransom and the Un-Man that has possessed the body of Weston began with a brutal fistfight on one of Perelandra's floating mats of vegetation. It continued on the ocean, as the Un-Man escaped on the back of a large fish, with Ransom pursuing. In the midst of the ocean with no floating islands or solid land in sight, Ransom began to have doubts about his mission to stop the Un-Man from corrupting the unfallen Perelandra.

In the dark, Weston approached Ransom again, his own personality apparently having resurfaced. He is terrified: possessed by the malevolent cosmic Force that he served, he had had a glimpse of the afterlife that awaited him, and was utterly terrified. However, when Ransom admonished him to pray to God and set things right, Weston pulled him off his fish and dragged him into the depths of the sea.

Perelandra: Chapter 13

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.

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To prevent another Fall on Perelandra, Maleldil instructed Ransom to kill the body of Weston, who became possessed by an evil spiritual Force and attempted to introduce evil to the green Queen of Perelandra. Maleldil put all the living creatures of Perelandra into a deep sleep, and after his own night's sleep that left him refreshed and spiritually renewed, Ransom confronted the Un-Man, beginning hand-to-hand combat, presumably to the death, between them. Ransom relied on his boxing skills while the feral Un-Man preferred to claw at Ransom's skin. After a time Weston escaped and rode out to the sea on one of the giant fish that the Perelandrians use for transportation; Ransom mounted another fish and pursued him.

In this chapter, the sea chase continues, with Ransom realizing just how far his pursuit of the Un-Man has taken him from anything like solid ground. He's out in the middle of the sea with no land or floating islands in sight. He spies some mer-men and tries to eat some of the seaweed they are eating, but the seaweed affects his mind, making him feel disoriented and forgetful of his mission; he throws the rest of it away. After a day and night of his fight with, and pursuit of, Weston, he is beginning to have doubts about his mission and the goodness of Maleldil.

Perelandra: Chapter 12

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read Perelandra now. I promise I won't be offended.

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Elwin Ransom, Cambridge philologist, has been brought to the planet Perelandra (Venus) by Maleldil, the supreme spiritual ruler of the solar system. Here, he met the Venusian "Eve," a green lady, and his enemy, the physicist Weston. Weston became possessed by a demonic entity, and although his own personality apparently ceased to be, the entity inhabiting his body persistently tried to tempt the Green Lady to break Maleldil's one law, which forbade dwelling on Perelandra's lone fixed island.

Ransom soon determined that his own reason for being on Perelandra was to cofront the Un-Man, the thing inside Weston, and prevent Perelandra's Fall. However, he had neither the persuasive power nor the sheer persistence of the Un-Man, who did not require sleep. Maleldil revealed to him that his only recourse is to kill Weston's body. It was no accident that he was called Ransom: he was the one responsible to stop sin from entering Perelandra.

When Ransom awakens, after bathing and eating, he searches for the Un-Man. He finds him in the act of maiming a bird, and starts the fight by punching Weston's body in the jaw. Though they are evenly matched, man to man, their fighting styles are different: Ransom is a superior boxer, while the Un-Man claws and tears. In his mind, the fight's outcome boils down to whether he could pummel Weston's body to death before losing too much blood.

Perelandra: Chapter 11

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

Ransom, brought by the Oyarsa of Malacandra to the planet Perelandra, encountered his enemy, the physicist Weston, there. Only Weston was no longer himself, having become possessed by the "Force" he reveres—really Satan or one of his fallen angels—and become what Ransom termed the "Un-Man." Weston was there to tempt and corrupt the Green Lady, the unfallen Eve of Perelandra. He did this by relentlessly trying to appeal to her sense of vanity and to persuade her that the one law on Perelandra, against dwelling on its fixed island, was made to be broken. Ransom attempted to dissuade her from heeding Weston. Fortunately, the Lady seemed resistant to the Un-Man's persuasive skills.

After days of this, Ransom sits against a tree and questions divine justice. He has made no headway against the Un-Man. If the Enemy was there in person, where is the representative of Maleldil to counter him? The answer that comes back to him in the dark is that, of course, he is Maleldil's man: an idea that he almost dismisses as blasphemy. But he realizes that Maleldil has been with him all along. His own arrival on Perelandra was as miraculous as Weston's. The fate of Perelandra is left in God's hands—and he and the Green Lady are those hands.

Perelandra: Chapter 10

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Philologist Elwin Ransom, brought to the planet Perelandra (Venus) by Oyarsa, the spiritual ruler of Malacandra (Mars), encountered his old enemy Weston who had abducted him to Malacandra, while exploring Perelandra's sole fixed island with the Green Lady, the planet's only woman. Weston's personality is gone: Ransom believed he had become an Un-Man, an animated corpse possessed by the malevolent spirit Weston had called the Force, but which Ransom believed to be one of Satan's allies, if not Satan himself.

Ransom later found the Un-Man by following a trail of tortured animals. He was trying to tempt the Green Lady, into violating the one law decreed by Maleldil, the ruler of the universe: not to live or spend the night on the island. After Ransom dissuaded the Lady from listening to the Weston-thing, that was Weston, it engaged in psychological torture on him, calling his name for no reason to keep him awake all night.

Perelandra: Chapter 9

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

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Ransom and the Green Lady of Perelandra were exploring the Fixed Land, the one solid island on the planet, when they encountered Weston, who had abducted Ransom to Mars in Out of the Silent Planet. Weston tried to persuade Ransom of his newfound belief in emergent evolution, directed by an impersonal, spiritual "Force." In doing so, he allowed himself to become possessed by this Force.

Ransom followed Weston off the Fixed Land back to the mats of floating vegetation that comprise most of the "land" on Venus. There, in the dark, he overheard Weston trying to persuade the Green Lady that the ban on staying on the Fixed Land, imposed by Maleldil, was not as severe as she assumed. It was permissible for her to imagine living there, as it would make her wiser.

When Ransom awakens, he walks along the "shore" of his island, where he encounters one of Perelandra's native animals. However, something or someone has torn the colourful frog-like thing apart. With difficulty, Ransom puts the still-living animal out of its misery. He then continues his walk, following a trail of mutilated frogs, until he comes across Weston in the act of gutting one before he escapes again.