History Literature / OutOfTheSilentPlanet

* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Done deliberately with Weston. In his essay "Reply to Professor Haldane", Lewis himself notes the weak point that although "Weston, for the sake of the plot, has to be a physicist, his interests seem to be exclusively biological," and he points out that he was intending the story to be [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness more fantastical than hard sci-fi]].[[note]]''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'' has Weston state that [[{{Handwave}} he started as a physicist, then became a biologist]], but it's implied to have happened between books, not before this one.[[/note]]

[[CunningLinguist Philologist]] Elwin Ransom is kidnapped by the (evil) scientists Devine and Weston, and taken in their space-ship to the planet Malacandra (or UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, as we call it) as a human sacrifice to appease the natives while they mine the place for gold. He escapes, locates and falls in among the civilized natives (the otterlike ''hrossa'') and learns their language and their ways.

He is then summoned to see Oyarsa, the ruler of Malacandra. This being is an ''eldil'' -- basically, an angel -- and actually just wants to talk. In the court of Oyarsa, Ransom learns much of the history of ''eldila'' and the solar system, and the reason why Thulcandra (the titular Silent Planet, that is, Earth) has heretofore been cut off from the Heavens. Weston and Devine reappear, and their ultimate villainous goals are laid bare and [[{{Deconstruction}} dissected]]. Oyarsa then sends the three humans back to Earth.

* AngelicAliens: The ''sorns'' of Malacandra are incredibly tall beasts that Ransom comes to appreciate as beings of such intelligence and grace as the legendary titans and angels.

* HumanoidAliens: The ''sorns'' are bipedal likes humans and otherwise structurally similar to humans, besides the feathers, needle-thinness, and the extra four feet they have on us.
* InnocentAliens: The three species of Malacandra live without any FantasticRacism, false religion, or even murder, thanks to their resident ''eldil'' keeping their planet from giving into idolatry. Its said humans were once the same, until Earth's ''eldil'' cut off contact with the rest of the Solar System and bent humanity to his envious will.

* TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies: Weston, the villain of the first book and an archetypical Creator/HGWells character, sincerely believes that humanity's continual industrialization justifies slaughtering the "barbaric" people of Malacandra. When pushed on his logic, he proclaims no killing is unlawful if it means something called "man" (since they may change their body or mind in the name of Progress) survives. The Oyarsa identifies this as classic case of [[SingleIssueWonk a single duty (love of species) being isolated from all the great laws of goodness until it becomes evil]].
* SacrificialLion: Hyoi is the only friend Ransom makes on the alien planet of Malacandra, only to be shot dead to make the malice of man known to the Malacandrans.

* SpaceElves: The ''sorns'' of Mars are exceptionally tall creatures renowned for their intellect. They directly serve the spirit Oyarsa, a position which puts them above the more dwarvish pfifltrigg and hrossa.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Subverted. The Old Solar language has a word for sapient creatures of any species: ''hnau''. Humans, Malacandrans, Perelandrans, and Eldila are all ''hnau'', and thus are all people. As an interesting twist, though, Lewis proposes that the human practice of keeping pets is an expression of our desire for companionship with people who are different creatures from us -- the various Malacandrans find each other silly, amusing and refreshing. Humans talk to cats or dogs and treat them as family members; a Hross goes to hang out with a Pfifltrigg, who can actually talk back.

* {{God}}: Ransom learns the Martians worship a being called Maleldil. There is no dispute that Maleldil is on Mars, although the intellectual ''sorns'' have a more abstract understanding of him than the more artistic ''hrossa''. They all agree he is a spirit without bodies or parts (which the ''sorns'' attribute to an extreme form of FasterThanLightTravel) that created everything in the world and assigned the ''Oyeresu'' to watch over the planets. Ransom realizes with time that Maleldil is who on Earth is called UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and in ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'' that Venusians know He is one with his Father and "the Third One."

* PlanetLooters: Weston and Devine travel to Malacandra in the hopes of finding gold and land for humanity to plunder. The knowledge that three intelligent races live on the planet is no object to these men, who only have the fame of the human species and their own wallets in mind.

* AuthorTract: ''Out Of The Silent Planet'' is a fictionalized version of Lewis' essay "Religion and Rocketry", describing how extraterrestrial life doesn't contradict Christian theology. It is also a deconstruction of the colonial ideals often found in sci-fi of the time through the "judgement scene," where Weston has to attempt to justify his worldview to an angel that doesn't speak his language. He needs to resort to the interpretive services of Ransom, who can only convey his speech very simplistically, and who is not necessarily sympathetic to many of his opinions. The obvious point is that, stripped of rhetorical flourish, many of Weston's seemingly high-minded ideals start to sound almost barbaric.

* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Done deliberately with Weston. In his essay "Reply to Professor Haldane", Lewis himself notes the weak point that although "Weston, for the sake of the plot, has to be a physicist, his interests seem to be exclusively biological," and he points out that he was intending the story to be [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness more fantastical than hard sci-fi]].

** In-universe, a pfifltriggi makes a portrait of Ransom and his companions that depicts them as stumpy mushroom-shaped creatures. Ransom is started to realize this is their ''idealized'' version of what humans look like, as the real version [[RealityIsUnrealistic would be hard for Malacandrians to believe]].

* AngelicAliens: The ''sorns'' of Malacandra are incredibly tall beasts that Ransom comes to appreciate as beings of such intelligence and grace as the legendary titans and angels.'

* BizzareAlienPsychology: {{Discussed}} by the seorni, who are of the opinion that living on a world with only one sapient species must profoundly narrow our mental horizons by depriving us of the opportunity to compare our own worldviews with those anchored in a different biology and set of instincts.

He is then summoned to see Oyarsa, the ruler of of Malacandra. This being is an ''eldil'' -- basically, an angel -- and actually just wants to talk. In the court of Oyarsa, Ransom learns much of the history of ''eldila'' and the solar system, and the reason why Thulcandra (the titular Silent Planet, that is, Earth) has heretofore been cut off from the Heavens. Weston and Devine reappear, and their ultimate villainous goals are laid bare and [[{{Deconstruction}} dissected]]. Oyarsa then sends the three humans back to Earth.

* {{Planetville}}: Averted via LampshadeHanging: as Ransom leaves Malacandra, he realizes what a tiny portion of the planet he actually saw, and discusses the great varieties of beings he never got to see in the afterword.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: Ransom immediately starts thinking of writhing masses of tentacles when it becomes clear he's going to meet some aliens. Turns out none of the aliens are quite so spooky.

* StarfishAliens: Malacandra has three alien natives, one looking like big intelligent otters, thin tall humanoids, and [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent tapir-headed frogish aliens]]. The Eldila, though angelic, are multidimensional energy beings who inhabit the vacuum of space itself.

* AncientAstronauts: Inverted. Creator/CSLewis' AuthorAvatar translates a manuscript by the 12th century Platonist Bernardus Silvestris, describing a voyage through the heavens and mentioning ''Oyarses'', a tutelary spirit assigned to a planet. Said author avatar seeks translation help from Dr. Ransom--who had himself recently voyaged to Mars and spoken with Oyarsa, and thus recognizes Silvetris' account as a true one. As for Oyarsa, he's an EnergyBeing, an angel, and a god.

* UncannyValley: Ransom finds the Sorns terrifying at first (and even after discovering their true nature takes awhile to become comfortable with them) precisely because they superficially resemble elongated humans. With the other species, he discovers that the moment he starts thinking of them as 'human' rather than intelligent animals they become disturbing.

* UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}: Although Ransom doesn't at first know Malacandra is Mars. It was already out of date by the time it came out, scientifically, but it made for a good story and effort was at least made to ''try'' justifying some of it.

* AlmostOutOfOxygen: Carbon dioxide poisoning becomes an issue during the return trip in ''Out of the Silent Planet''. The characters move and speak as little as possible in order to reduce their respiration.
* AncientAstronauts: There's an inversion in the first book. Creator/CSLewis' AuthorAvatar translates a manuscript by the 12th century Platonist Bernardus Silvestris, describing a voyage through the heavens and mentioning ''Oyarses'', a tutelary spirit assigned to a planet. Said author avatar seeks translation help from Dr. Ransom--who had himself recently voyaged to Mars and spoken with Oyarsa, and thus recognizes Silvetris' account as a true one. As for Oyarsa, he's an EnergyBeing, an angel, and a god.

** In the introduction to ''Out of the Silent Planet'', Lewis explains he knew that telescopes had shown there were no canals on Mars, but he put them there anyway because they were part of the popular lore about the planet.

* AuthorTract: ''Out Of The Silent Planet'' is a fictionalized version of Lewis' essay "Religion and Rocketry", describing how extraterrestrial life could be reconciled with Christian theology. It is also a deconstruction of the colonial ideals often found in sci-fi of the time through the "judgement scene," where Weston has to attempt to justify his worldview to an angel that doesn't speak his language. He needs to resort to the interpretive services of Ransom, who can only convey his speech very simplistically, and who is not necessarily sympathetic to many of his opinions. The obvious point is that, stripped of rhetorical flourish, many of Weston's seemingly high-minded ideals start to sound almost barbaric.

* {{Deconstruction}}: In ''Out Of The Silent Planet'', Weston's motivation for the colonization of Mars is the survival of the human race, even if this means killing all the natives of Mars. Or killing any humans who stand in his way. The conversation with Oyarsa picks this philosophy to pieces. This aspect was most likely intended by Lewis as a rebuttal to Olaf Stapeldon's novel ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'', which (arguably) condoned the genocide of native Venusians as necessary for humanity's survival, though Weston's clownish antics earlier poke fun at colonialism generally.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: In the first book, Ransom immediately starts thinking of writhing masses of tentacles when it becomes clear he's going to meet some aliens. Turns out none of the aliens are quite so spooky.
* FirstContact: Some time before the first book, human scientists Devine and Weston traveled to Mars and met members of one of its three species, the ''sorns''.

* {{God}}: Ransom learns the Martians worship a being called Maleldil in ''Out of the Silent Planet''. There is no dispute that Maleldil is on Mars, although the intellectual ''sorns'' have a more abstract understanding of him than the more artistic ''hrossa''. They all agree he is a spirit without bodies or parts (which the ''sorns'' attribute to an extreme form of FasterThanLightTravel) that created everything in the world and assigned the ''Oyeresu'' to watch over the planets. Ransom realizes with time that Maleldil is who on Earth is called UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and learns in ''Perelandra'' that the people of Venus know He is one with his Father and "the Third One."
* GreaterScopeVillain: In book one, the Bent One is responsible for cutting off Earth from the rest of the solar system and corrupting them into misers and murderers. He is never directly encountered, but is responsible for the {{Greed}} and {{Pride}} that motivates Weston to kidnap Ransom and to attack his alien friends.

* HeavyWorlder: The Earth-based characters on Malacandra, as identified by the sorns. Ransom himself, after months living among the natives, sees Weston and Devine as they must look to Malacandran eyes for a brief moment towards the end of the novel.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Both Weston and Devine in ''Out of the Silent Planet'' have no regard for anyone but themselves, despite Weston's flowery rhetoric about advancing the human race. Oyarsa sends them and Ransom back to Earth, and informs them that their ship will be unmade after their landing, along with anything and anyone left inside. Ransom is asleep when they land, and wakes to find that they left without bothering to wake him. He barely makes it out of the ship before it self-destructs in a flash of light.

* UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}: The setting of the first book. It was already out of date by the time it came out, scientifically, but it made for a good story and effort was at least made to ''try'' justifying some of it.

* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: In ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'', the inhabitants of Malacandra come in three different species (not counting the energy beings), each with its own language. Furthermore, the sorns[[note]]in-universe plural is seroni[[/note]] (giant feathered humanoids) come in at least two varieties -- white (in the mountains) and red (in the deserts), and the hrossa (otter-people) come in at least three races -- black, silver, and crested. There might be more, but the viewpoint character wasn't on the planet long enough to tell, as he was vividly aware.

** Also deconstructed, just a little. The hrossa, who live a Hunter-gatherer lifestyle, are very friendly to Ransom due to their nobility, but they do him more harm than anyone else by forgetting he can't breathe the thin air up on the high steppe. The sorn astronomer who saves his life bemoans that neither he nor the technically minded pfifltriggi would have made such a mistake. The other two species are just as noble, being sinless, yet far more rational.
* {{Planetville}}: Averted via LampshadeHanging in ''Out Of The Silent Planet'': as Ransom leaves Malacandra, he realizes what a tiny portion of the planet he actually saw, and discusses the great varieties of beings he never got to see in the afterword.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Done deliberately with Weston in ''Out of the Silent Planet''. In his essay "Reply to Professor Haldane", Lewis himself notes the weak point that although "Weston, for the sake of the plot, has to be a physicist, his interests seem to be exclusively biological," and he points out that he was intending the story to be [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness more fantastical than hard sci-fi]].
* OnceGreenMars: In ''Out Of The Silent Planet,'' It turns out that Malacandra (Mars) was once lushly habitable before being attacked and ravaged by the bent Oyarsa of Earth, and now life there is mostly limited to a few geothermal oases.

* TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies: Weston, the villain of the first book and an archetypical Creator/HGWells character, sincerely believes that humanity's continual industrialization justifies slaughtering the "barbaric" people of Malacandra. When pushed on his logic, he proclaims no killing is unlawful if it means something called "man" (since they may change their body or mind in the name of Progress) survives. The Oyarsa identifies this as classic case of [[LoveMakesYouEvil a single duty (love of species) being isolated from all the great laws of goodness until it becomes evil]].

* SpaceElves: The ''sorns'' of Mars are exceptionally tall creatures renowned for their intellect and word-craft. They directly serve the spirit Oyarsa, a position which puts them above the more dwarvish pfifltrigg and hrossa.
* SpaceIsCold: {{Averted}}. In ''Out of the Silent Planet'', all space travel is in the inner solar system (from Earth to Mars and back), so the sun is relatively near to Weston's spaceship, always visible, and makes things very hot within the ship. When Ransom comments, "I always thought space was dark and cold," he is met with scorn for his naivete. "Forgot about the Sun, did you?"

* SpaceIsAnOcean: In the first book, Ransom observes that "space" (an unfitting name) is less of a void and more like an ocean of heavenly, unfiltered starlight that only stops at the planetary islands where mortals live. He quotes Creator/JohnMilton's description of an oceanic flight in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' to show that older thinkers were right to see the heavens as skyward seas.

* TechnoBabble: Weston dismissively explains his spaceship works by "exploiting some of the less observed properties of solar radiation." (WordOfGod explained this as an obvious HandWave, as the mechanics of space travel are not really the point; in the second book Ransom's space travel is accomplished not by science but by angels.)

* VenusIsWet: Perelandra is an ocean world where the only piece of dry land is a mountain emerging from the depths and all the inhabitants live on enormous rafts of matted plant life.
* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Ransom is forced to physically fight with the Un-Man after weeks of debating and arguing have failed. Ransom is initially appalled by the idea and uses it only as a last resort. He also knows he has a very good chance of dying in the attempt.
* TheWatson: In ''Perelandra'', Lewis gets little to say outside of questions about what happened in the first book and what the Martians want the protagonist to do for the rest of the current novel.

* WhamLine: In ''Out of the Silent Planet:''

[[redirect:Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy]]