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.

When he returns to his senses, Ransom sees that he is indeed high up. Below him he can see a wooded valley and across that, a majestic mountain range "of almost Himalayan height." Although his more superficial injuries have healed, Ransom discovers that a wound on his heel—clearly a bite from the Un-Man—will not stop bleeding, though it's not too bad. For want of something to do, he carves a memorial to Weston in the crystalline stone of the mountain.

A few days later, Ransom feels well enough to try to descend the hill, which is covered in springy blue turf and small, soft, delicate trees. It is a dwarf forest, seemingly created for dwarf inhabitants: Ransom sees mammalian creatures, which resemble tiny mice and horses, living in the little trees' shade. When he reaches the valley, he starts ascending the far slope, where he hears joyful music, sung by an animal the size of an elephant, friendly, but timid. When he reaches the level of the ledge where he had emerged from underground, he looks across and sees it is the edge of a massive, crystalline tableland. That land becomes smaller and more insignificant as he ascends this massive mountain; yet he does not feel fatigue. He knows not why he wants to ascend to the peak of this mountain; he is merely content to do so.

With the distant peaks no longer so distant, Ransom spies a pass between two of them; though he feels he dare not go up there, he also feels a duty to. As he does, he discovers that the mountain peaks he had assumed were of red rock are, in fact, covered in red flowers. The top of the mountain is a pure rose-red basin with a clear pool at the centre. By its edge he finds an empty white coffin and a lid beside it, just like the one that brought him to Perelandra. He sees that his time on this planet has come to an end. But he feels a presence, and though he cannot see them, he knows that he is faced with two eldila.

The lasting wound from the battle is an obvious allusion to the Protoevangelion: "he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15); of course, Ransom ended his battle with the Un-Man by crushing Weston's head. Ransom also descended deep enough into the ground that the subterranean fires were visible where he vanquished the Un-Man. He "descended to hell" and after several days rose again to rest from his work under open sky. Ransom is a clear Christ-figure, obviously, but I can't say whether Lewis was calling the Apostles' Creed to mind intentionally, like the Protoevangelion. If so, it's kind of on the nose.

While exploring underground, Ransom spies what appears to be another intelligent, though non-human, being: the cloaked figure in the cart drawn by insects. He sees that "the inside of this world was not for man." There are thrones, but they are not for the King and the Green Lady. This subterranean kingdom reminds me a little of the Underland in The Silver Chair, specifically the land of Bism, where the rivers flow with molten rock and the gemstones are living fruit, rather than the fossils we mine up here. It's tempting to see the realm of fire beneath Narnia as an analogue for Hell, but Bism is portrayed as a beautiful place. Prince Rilian is tempted to visit, but in the end he cannot, and he accepts his duty to return to the overworld. This underground demesne, like Bism, is not made for man. I don't recall that the last few chapters give us any more I sight into the Perelandrian underworld. It's a mystery; just a bit of worldbuilding.

As Ransom ascends the massive mountain, he has the impression that he might have died; that is the reason he feels no weariness from climbing. I'm again reminded of the Chronicles of Narnia: specifically, the final dash "farther up and farther in" across Aslan's country in The Last Battle, of which Narnia was just an imperfect shadow. Back in chapter 6 when Ransom and the Green Lady first visited the Fixed Land, it was described as the sole fixed island on Venus: a largeish, foreboding, craggy, mountainous island with a small amount of habitable land, as well as red rock, blue turf, running water and some local fauna. In this chapter, though, the Fixed Land seems huge, beautiful, and full of life. This seems to me like an I consistency in the narrative. Or, perhaps, having finished his quest and emerged victorious against ultimate evil, Ransom's perception of the Fixed Land has changed, just as his perception of the giant bug once he was no longer under the spiritual influence of the Un-Man.

Two chapters to go—and in the next one, we talk to angels and have a reunion with the Green Lady, and her with her King.