Captain First Rank Marko Ramius is described as “shorter and heavier” (470) than Jack Ryan. He is respectful and intelligent, a curious man who describes himself as a free thinker despite living in a society that does not value this trait. He is half Lithuanian, a fact that implies a lack of pure Soviet blood among his colleagues, placing his loyalty to the Communist Party in doubt. However, because Ramius’s father was a high-ranking member of the party, he went to all the right schools and rose quickly in his career. By the time the novel opens, he is so respected and trusted that for the past decade he took every new submarine on its first voyage, and he has the power to choose the crew that will go with him on Red October’s maiden voyage.

Captain Ramius was content with his life, happy to do what he loves for a living and spend his off time with his wife. However, when she dies from a preventable and treatable infection after appendicitis surgery, he becomes angry and in need of someone to punish. There is no path to justice within the Soviet system for his wife’s death: The Communist Party will not punish the doctor because his father is a powerful figure within the party, and the government does not regulate the drug companies.