Open Characters

Here's a blog dedicated to characters that have no copyright or are under an open license and are free to use. This blog is to help spread awareness of the public domain as well as other open licenses such as creative commons and help inspire people who might wish to use these characters in their own writing!

[opencharacters]

Introducing Opencharacters.net

I started a blog to act like sort of a database of characters. It has a search function, tags, categories and you can even follow the blog via rss feed.

I try to just give a general idea of the characters and like links to more info about things.

Opencharacters.net | RSS Feed

Check it out. I will still maintain this tumblr blog but I will also be posting there simply because I think it would prove a nicer tool for creatives.

If you'd like to support this project my ko-fi can be found here

[opencharacters]

A Gift: 30 Open Source Characters

[ID: drawing of a girl with greywhite skin, blueish shirt, black skirt, striped knee high socks and four angel wings coming from her back and a halo. she got 4 eyes that make a butterfly pattern. her hair is pink with black stripe on front and blonde with a light blonde stripe towards the back END ID]

So throughout April I have been taking part in the 30 Days of Characters challenge over on ComicFury and thought it would be fun and dedcided from the getgo to make all characters that i make for this open source or creative commons (specifically CC BY 4.0) so everyone can use them as long as they credit me. So below are links to all the characters and a very brief description of them.

Pictured above is Daphiel, an anime and fanfiction nerd and banished archangel which was todays character and the last charactger of the challenge I thought would make good for like a thumbnail for the post.

Jenba (Jenny Everywhere as a 4 armed party robot)

Camcord (Person modified to have a camcorder for an eye)

Miss Xtra (unhinged assassin)

Apta Lee (young bounty hunter)

Octobrianne (Octopus Cyclops Alien Mob Boss)

CRTbbit (rabbit tv head person)

Queen Slitmouth (deep sea mermaid)

Demova (fallen angel)

Strawbemon (Demon, vaguely strawberry looking)

Skelletta (Skull headed angel)

Salva (Cybernetic Vampire)

Zuxia (Blue alien with many eyes)

Plasmatazz (Groovy DJ ghost)

Hellow (Robot Knight)

Clovacta (Floating head ghost)

Wam (Faceless punk ghost)

Lil Jackie (Punk girl with axe)

Macca (Fast food themed zombie)

Toltacus (Triangle demon)

Pepper Lace (Candy angel)

Tedly (Horned alien dude)

Babidim (Skull teddy bear)

Shadex (Shadow mob boss)

Professor Ambrosia (Hippy alien with tentacles)

Amoratos (Love God)

Lacey O'Mally (Alien farmer with two vertical eyes)

Famished Ghost (Angry looking ghost)

Count Vivi (Femme Vampire Goblin)

Valentine (Video Game Ghost)

Daphiel (Weeb Angel)

Over on ComicFury you can see each character as well as their backstories. So take a look. All are open source and free to use, so spread them and use as you see fit as long as you credit me and maybe message me about it because I wanna see what you come up with :D

This was quite the endurance to keep drawing new character every day but it was a lot of fun and I feel it enhanced both my writing and drawing abilities.

For more info on how it can be use check the page for CC BY 4.0 License, basically can do whatever just need to credit me, Sasha Henriksen and maybe link to my website ranmagender.com

[opencharacters]

fixed the link for Daphiel it was pointing to the wrong page

[opencharacters]

Sadako: Uncopyrightable? Maybe...

Some things are really fascinating to me and none more examples of how certain things cant really be fully copyrightable because of their vagueness or they become too much of an archetype in the cultural zeitgeist to really be enforceable by copyright.

I've already talked about one such case, Igor who despite being from copyrighted movies has become such an archetype that you cant really copyright the character of an assistant to a mad doctor or the name Igor.

Another example I've encountered is Sadako, from the Ring franchise. Sadako is based on a ghost from japanese folklore, the Onryō or Vengeful Spirit but also specifically based on Okiku from Banchō Sarayashiki a 18th century play and Oiwa from Yotsuya Kaidan a play from the 19th century.

Sadako's depiction as a woman with long hair in front of her face is not copyrightable.

The name Sadako is not copyrightable and is not even trademarked. It's just a normal name.

The name Sadako Yamamura is at least in association with the character, the specific backstory is and characters from the Ring franchise are including the name Ring in its association with this.

But a woman named Sadako who comes from a cursed form of media is not really copyrightable on its own. One proof of this is the movie Sadako: Pendant of Mourning

its a low budget horror film from Japan made in 2024. Despite it being labeled Sadako and being clearly invoking Sadako Yamamura because they dont call her by that full name and dont make specific references to past movies its been able to skate by fine, no lawsuits or copyright strikes. Its even on Amazon Prime in Japan and was sold on DVD.

There's other movies like this, i've discovered like at least 10 Sadako films not officially licensed by Kadokawa, the rights holder of the Ring franchise.

I think a comparison is kind of like how theres a bunch of Amityville movies because you can't really copyright a haunted house being in Amityville, a real place. You cant copyright ideas, just specific expressions of ideas.

No grand point here just something I've ruminated on since discovering that there's a bunch of unofficial Ring/Sadako movies.

[opencharacters]

A Gift: 30 Open Source Characters

[ID: drawing of a girl with greywhite skin, blueish shirt, black skirt, striped knee high socks and four angel wings coming from her back and a halo. she got 4 eyes that make a butterfly pattern. her hair is pink with black stripe on front and blonde with a light blonde stripe towards the back END ID]

So throughout April I have been taking part in the 30 Days of Characters challenge over on ComicFury and thought it would be fun and dedcided from the getgo to make all characters that i make for this open source or creative commons (specifically CC BY 4.0) so everyone can use them as long as they credit me. So below are links to all the characters and a very brief description of them.

Pictured above is Daphiel, an anime and fanfiction nerd and banished archangel which was todays character and the last charactger of the challenge I thought would make good for like a thumbnail for the post.

Jenba (Jenny Everywhere as a 4 armed party robot)

Camcord (Person modified to have a camcorder for an eye)

Miss Xtra (unhinged assassin)

Apta Lee (young bounty hunter)

Octobrianne (Octopus Cyclops Alien Mob Boss)

CRTbbit (rabbit tv head person)

Queen Slitmouth (deep sea mermaid)

Demova (fallen angel)

Strawbemon (Demon, vaguely strawberry looking)

Skelletta (Skull headed angel)

Salva (Cybernetic Vampire)

Zuxia (Blue alien with many eyes)

Plasmatazz (Groovy DJ ghost)

Hellow (Robot Knight)

Clovacta (Floating head ghost)

Wam (Faceless punk ghost)

Lil Jackie (Punk girl with axe)

Macca (Fast food themed zombie)

Toltacus (Triangle demon)

Pepper Lace (Candy angel)

Tedly (Horned alien dude)

Babidim (Skull teddy bear)

Shadex (Shadow mob boss)

Professor Ambrosia (Hippy alien with tentacles)

Amoratos (Love God)

Lacey O'Mally (Alien farmer with two vertical eyes)

Famished Ghost (Angry looking ghost)

Count Vivi (Femme Vampire Goblin)

Valentine (Video Game Ghost)

Daphiel (Weeb Angel)

Over on ComicFury you can see each character as well as their backstories. So take a look. All are open source and free to use, so spread them and use as you see fit as long as you credit me and maybe message me about it because I wanna see what you come up with :D

This was quite the endurance to keep drawing new character every day but it was a lot of fun and I feel it enhanced both my writing and drawing abilities.

For more info on how it can be use check the page for CC BY 4.0 License, basically can do whatever just need to credit me, Sasha Henriksen and maybe link to my website ranmagender.com

[hahaimdrowning]

Elizabeth Kirkman Fitzhugh, Militant Mary

November 13, 1914

[adelphicoracle]

I had never heard of this character before, but it really was published over a hundred years ago. Here’s a comics blog talking about her, and a couple more gems:

Obscurity of the Day: Militant Mary

It's hard to believe that this blog has been running over a dozen years now, and I am just now getting around to mak

[opencharacters]

Millitant Mary is public domain

[opencharacters]

Do you think that a worldbuilding project with its own webcomic that is entirely in the public domain can go popular?

i dont see why not. i mean theres open source webcomics like pepper and carrot, look it up and theres creative commons projects that are popular like the scp foundation. so yes

[opencharacters]

With the release of the A24 Backrooms teaser I've seen some folks lament the fact that the original creator of the Backrooms aint getting anything from it. Now I'm usually the first to think that a big company is screwing over a creator but like, while we do kind of know who specifically created the Backrooms, due to 4chan's anonymous nature it kind of isnt possible to be 100% on that and legally speaking it makes it a public domain thing. The image is also public domain as the owner of the store who took the original image released it into the public domain.

Like I get the cynicism of thinking its a company screwing over a creator, but this is just how things work in these circumstances. Kind of like how nobody really owns a lot of creepypastas because theres no creator one can attatch it to.

Kane Pixels also did go the distance with his series and like got a gig making a movie of his vision for the Backrooms when he was only 17, i think he's in his early 20s now. Like idk, I think all this is fine.

Here's the teaser btw that Kane posted and I'm pretty hyped for it.

[sanshofox]

To my german followers (or even european followers, if this is actually happening in your country too):

Netflix wants voice actors to sign new contracts, contracts that say, that if they agree and sign their voice will be fed to netflix‘s AI. Netflix then wants to generate voices to do the work in movies and series and pay the voice actor that way. I think we can all agree that this is very fishy and will for sure have negative repercussions in the future for various reasons. Most voice actors aren’t signing, which means that (maybe) in a few weeks or months already movies and series productions from netflix won’t have a german dub anymore. There’s already customers wanting to boycott if that becomes true.

There‘s a petition, that I’ll post below, which you can sign as someone from germany, to protect the art and work of voice actors. (Maybe there’s a petition for other european countries too, so I‘d recommend looking if there’s one).

Schützt die Kunst vor KI #DeineStimmeFürEchteStimmen - Online-Petition

Wir, die Unterzeichnenden dieser Petition, fordern eine umfassende und verbindliche Regulierung für den Einsatz von künstlichen Stimmen in d

[opencharacters]

I don't think hatsune miku is public domain

i never claimed that, i claimed that she is creative commons for non commercial projects but also that "girl with blue-green twin tails" is generic enough that you can make your own miku-likes many people especially song creators make their own spin on the miku design.

[hersurvival]

[rjalker]

New public domain character! Tuliva the cockatiel!

Public domain means that there is purposefully no copyright on this image or character whatsoever. This means you can do anything you want with it. You can sell it, you can turn it into a novel, or a movie, or anything you want! The only thing you can't do is tell other people they can't use it, or claim you made it yourself.

The prompt of a cockatiel with any natural color morph by @thenixkat as thanks for providing an image description for another post!

___

When her parents are missing in the aftermath of an unearthly storm that turned the sky green and ripped almost every known tree from the ground, Tuliva must take up the family sword, and the Guardian title that goes with it, to protect her injured or younger neighbors from the sudden surge of cats and dogs fleeing from the cities, starving, unreasonable, and going after anything that moves.

She is kept busy teaching herself to fight and helping her neighbors rebuild, but the unending green light from the city on the horizon always draws her gaze, and though logic warns her to stay away, something else urges her to investigate, almost like a whisper in the back of her head, and it sounds almost like the voices of her parents...

[ image description start. Simple, digital lineless drawing showing a Tuliva, wild cockatiel wearing a green striped bandana and green armored boots, wielding a sword against an orange cat that is mostly off screen, with only its paws visible, claws outstretched, reaching toward Tuliva, Who strikes at one paw with the edge of the sword. Behind her is a tree with a hole in the trunk, where another cockatiel peers out, angry and afraid. Tuliva has a dark gray body and lower wings, with white on the upper edges of the wing. Her head is bright yellow, with large deep orange patches on her cheeks, and dark brown eyes with green reflecting on the inside. Image description end.]

[opencharacters]

Are people allowed to submit characters that they made/created?Like,if I create a random character for no reason (that obviously is purely original and not linked to any existent IP),and I submit it to you,can it be public domain?

you certainly can :D

[opencharacters]

Would you happen to know if Golden Bat/Ogon Bat is public domain? I have been seeing mixed messages as to if he is and if so I'm not sure which version of him would be

yes golden bat or at least the original version from the old paper theater days of the 1930s is public domain. Ogon Bat did not have a copyright until the manga version. Even after treaties like the URAA copyright was not reverted back because it was already public domain by then.

[ID: old illustration of a skeleton man in a red cape surrounded by japanese characters END ID]

Other paper theater/Kamishibai characters like Hakaba Kitaro and Prince of Gamma are also public domain. But once again, just their original versions which you can of course build upon

[opencharacters]

Elg-Fróði

So like I feel sometimes people dont look far and wide enough for things to use in their works. Take for instance the W******. Like as neat as the concept of it is, i feel its not appropriate to use as a generic monster especially since native americans often voice disapproval of the spirit that starts with a W being used by non-natives, especially in the way its often used.

I propose an alternative, Elg-Fróði

[ID: simple drawing of an elk-man carrying an axe. the man has a braided beard END ID] (drawn by me, public domain)

Elg-Fróði is a half-elk, half-human hybrid who is the brother of Bödvar Bjarki from Hrólfs saga kraka (Saga of Hrolf Kraki) on of the Icelandic fornaldarsögur or legendary sagas. Believed to have been written c. 1400 or at least the manuscript we still have is from that time.

The text itself does not specify whether Elg-Fróði walks on two legs or is some kind of centaur, both depictions therefore would be correct. He's a fierce warrior and his blood is said to give humans strength.

While yes the commonly used spirit is public domain i do think there are boundaries that people should respect!

Elg-Fróði is also public domain and any icelander, myself included would be thrilled to have people use it.

If you wanna read Hrólfs saga kraka, i believe there is an english penguin classics version of it available that was translated by a pupil of Tolkien, if you just search "The Saga of Hrolf Kraki" on ebay.

[opencharacters]

I found this really good audiobook from a small channel made of the 1930 unrevised book The Secret of The Old Clock. she does the voices for the characters (looking at the channel seems to be a professional narrator of audiobooks), its quite good.

[opencharacters]

Standard Ebooks

You've probably seen me preach about Standard Ebooks because they standardize a lot of public domain books into a standard epub format with nice fonts, chapters and and so on, making it very nice to read on tablets and e-readers.

They've released some of the new books that just became public domain so I thought I'd compile the standouts and link directly to them for the ease of my followers here. All these books became public domain today and these versions are also public domain as stated on their site.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (the earlier serialized version became public domain last year but the main version that the movies are based on became public domain today)

The first four Nancy Drew mystery novels by Carolyn Keene

The Secret of the Old Clock

The Hidden Staircase

The Bungalow Mystery

The Mystery at Lilac Inn

Others include

End of the World by Geoffrey Dennis

Ash Wednesday by T.S Eliot

As I Lay Dying by William Faulner

and many more, they in fact have a whole public domain day write up

They do work, get yourself a free book or two and if you can spare the coin consider donating to them, this is a volunteer thing thats been going on for well over a decade.

[opencharacters]

Happy Public Domain Day 2026

[ID: painting of a blonde girl with blue eyes in a blue coat and blue hat holding a large clock in a forest END ID]

Once again its the time of year when copyrights expire the world over. Rejoice for the grasp of corporate conglomerates loosening just a bit.

Here's some highlights of what has just become public domain.

Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years copyright law (Such as most of the EU among others)

The works of Thomas Mann, such as Doctor Faustus

The publications of Albert Einstein

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The romance novels of Ruby M. Ayres

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon's writings including The Z Murders

The works of Mary Tracy Earle

Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years copyright law (such as Belarus, Bolivia, Egypt, New Zealand and Uruguay and many more)

The works of Rod Serling (specifically his scripts and other written work, this doesnt mean Twilight Zone itself is public domain)

All the works of P. G. Wodehouse including the Wooster & Jeeves series.

Works of Pulitzer Prize Winner Thornton Wilder

Entering the public domain in the United States

The Yellow Knight of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

the first four Nancy Drew books, from The Secret of the Old Clock to The Mystery at Lilac Inn. It's worth noting that a lot of things were added in the 1950s and 1960s Revision of the books which are not public domain, only the 1930 books are public domain!

Lewis Milestone's film All Quiet on the Western Front

Alfred Hitchcock's film Murder!

Dizzy Dishes and Hot Dog cartoon shorts, debut of Betty Boop and Bimbo the Dog (its worth noting that Betty was like a dog woman in her first appearances)

Various Disney shorts from 1930 including "The Picnic" first appearance of the dog that would become Pluto. Altho here he is named Rover.

[ID: Still from 1930's The Picnic where a dog is looking at the exhaust pipe of a car in a field END ID]

It's worth noting that due to the rule of shorter term if a work is public domain in its country of origin most countries do not keep protecting its copyright. Therefore American works that are entering the public domain such as that Nancy Drew books are effectively public domain elsewhere as well.

Frankly there's a lot more, so explore to your hearts content on Wikipedia, Internet Archive or Project Gutenberg theres certainly a plethora of new uploads to those last two today.