Lady Proxima
At the beginning of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the adolescent Han Solo is a small-time criminal who works for the worm-like Lady Proxima. Lady Proxima's name suggests the Latin proximus, which means "nearest" or "closest."
Lady Proxima is aptly named because she only cares about what is close by. Like many denizens of the underworld in Star Wars, the monstrous Lady Proxima – who tyrannizes her gang of child slaves from a watery pool in a dark underground lair – prioritizes tangible, material goods such as money, pleasure, and power above all else. She also keeps her subordinates in line by threatening them with immediate bodily pain: "There must be consequences for disobedience or else you will never learn," she tells Han as her men beat him for failing her.
Like the young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace or the young Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, the young Han Solo dreams of becoming a star pilot and seeing the galaxy. In other words, he dreams of what is far away, so he naturally comes into conflict with Lady Proxima, whose goal is to keep him chained to what is near.
Lady Proxima plays the same role in Han’s development as Watto plays in Anakin’s and Uncle Owen plays in Luke’s. All three of these pseudo-parental figures try to keep their young charges close by, blocking them from embarking on the high-flying adventures they dream of.
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Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Han Solo / Lady Proxima / Luke Skywalker / Owen Lars / Watto
Films: Episode I: The Phantom Menace / Solo: A Star Wars Story / Episode IV: A New Hope
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Concepts: children / monsters / names / slavery / underworld
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Wow! And every movie begins with a call to study a story from “far away.” I think this lends further credit to our argument that Lucas was actively attempting to craft a virtue myth!