Let's unpack that. The copyrightable status of a character *used* to be vague and complex, but high-profile cases have brought clarity to the question. The big one is #LesKlinger's case against the #ArthurConanDoyle estate over #SherlockHolmes. That case established that when a character appears in both public domain and copyrighted works, the character is in the public domain, and you are "free to copy story elements from the public domain works":

https://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

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