Elwin Ransom
Elwin Ransom may be based on C. S. Lewis' friend J. R. R. Tolkien ("Elwin" means "Elf friend" in Anglo-Saxon), though he seems to have autobiographical elements. In "That Hideous Strength" Ransom, with his royal charisma and matter-of-fact breezy acceptance of the supernatural, appears less like Tolkien than like Charles Williams (or some of the heroes in Williams' books).
J. R. R. Tolkien
As well as his fiction, Tolkien was also a leading author of academic literary criticism. His seminal 1936 lecture, later published as an article, revolutionized the treatment of the Anglo-Saxon epic "Beowulf" by literary critics. The essay remains highly influential in the study of Old English literature to this day. "Beowulf" is one of the most significant influences upon Tolkien's later fiction, with major details of both "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" being adapted from the poem. The piece reveals many of the aspects of "Beowulf" which Tolkien found most inspiring, most prominently the role of monsters in literature, particularly that of the dragon which appears in the final third of the poem: