"I don't need a mythological figure - I need something that calls people as a metaphor, and I need it to mean something to the most people."

Sometimes you get so close to something in a song, an image, a phrase, a line or a rhyme, and it won't come into shape; and then when you stand back you're better off without it. And sometime that is the image or the line or the phrase that kicked off the song in the first place, and thta can make it harder to drop it. (It's still there to use in another song though.)

"One stands" - that sounds a bit like the Queen making a Christmas broadcast. "I" or "He" or "She" might be a way of avoiding that.