It's chapters and chapters before we even know that Merlin is a possibility! Lewis really buried the lead on the Arthurian aspect of this book. Although to be fair, Merlin is the only really Arthurian thing that happens.
The behind the scenes stuff about who is based on whom is from Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings, where he mentions that Ransom was based on Tolkien for the first two books and then Williams for the third. The change in characterization is noticeable in the book itself, though; even without knowing any of the background, I think a reader would pick up on the fact that Ransom suddenly seems like a different person.
To summarize horribly, Tolkien!Ransom is a likeable dork who is all about philology (especially in Out of the Silent Planet), whereas Williams!Ransom is a charismatic type with dodgy views on gender roles - the characterization is Williams, but the views might be pure Lewis.
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The behind the scenes stuff about who is based on whom is from Humphrey Carpenter's The Inklings, where he mentions that Ransom was based on Tolkien for the first two books and then Williams for the third. The change in characterization is noticeable in the book itself, though; even without knowing any of the background, I think a reader would pick up on the fact that Ransom suddenly seems like a different person.
To summarize horribly, Tolkien!Ransom is a likeable dork who is all about philology (especially in Out of the Silent Planet), whereas Williams!Ransom is a charismatic type with dodgy views on gender roles - the characterization is Williams, but the views might be pure Lewis.