Is there is a limit on how far can the characteritics of a fictional setting be copied? (fedia.io)

submitted 4 days ago by ryujin470@fedia.io to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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When a story/game/etc. has a character named Zagreus with the title "Prince of the Underworld", and Melinoë with the title "Princess of the Underworld", is this story a derivative of the Hades I & II games? Note that both Zagreus and Melinoë aren't original creations of these games. They are from mythology & folklore, but they barely appear in ancient documents (Zagreus is basically just a name in ancient myths, and Melinoe only appears in a few Orphic Hymns)

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[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago

I never understood how anyone could prevent use of things like myths. Like other places did various fairy tale movies and cartoons but rarely did as well as disney ones did.

[-] snooggums@piefed.world 0 points 4 days ago

Specific reinterpretations or takes on myths or stories in the public domain can be subject to copyright. Like you can sell your own drawings of Hades or old drawings from the public domain, but not drawings of the Disney version of Hades. Even Disney can't claim Hades as a whole, just their Hades.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago

which is fine if theres is not to generic. makes sense why their characters often are very stylized.

this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026

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