Each of the Ignis could represent what the lost kids wanted from themselves
Miyu=Truth(Aqua). The most obvious one of all what had kept Miyu going was wanting to apologize to Aoi. Aoi lying for her got her friend in trouble when she wanted t tell her mom the truth even if she had been punished for it.
Takeru=Logic/Calm(Flame). For the longest time I had a hard time making this post cause I couldn’t figure out what Takeru would have wanted from himself so much when Flame came to be the way he is...until episode 116. Takeru explain before he was kidnapped he had fight with his parents and ran off. Essentially he got emotional and angry letting it cloud his decisions that led to him being kidnapped. meaning that he saw is he had been calmer, if he hadn't let his emotional control him he would have been home instead. Flame is thus born due to Takeru’s desire to be calmer and think things through.
Spectre= Connection(Earth). Spectre had a hard time connecting with people as a child(not that uncommon really and can be helped with therapy). But he never got the chance for that before he was kidnapped. So he connected with nature instead. Now Spectre is an odd one in that he enjoyed his experience, and I believe his desire with connection not only comes form nature but also with the world.
With Hanoi this actually is Spectre wish coming semi true, he is connected to the world through Vrains and Hanois cause. Being apart of something grander then him. He also developed a connection with Ryoken.
In Earth words “He just socially awkward”.
Windy’s Origin= Freedom/Peace(Windy). This was the hardest to do but I based this mostly off of how the other Ignis perceived Windy before Lightning altered his personality, how he acted to get an idea of how his Origin was. This is based on Windy’s Element which is wind, and his Monk Ai. Windy is born from his Origins wish to be Free and untied by mortal things.
Specifically to be freed form his situation, similar to a caged bird. We don’t know how his life was like before he was captured, but form we saw he had friends, he had parents. So we can assumed he may have had a normal boring life before and after the incident. Thus causing Windy to have a carefree mischievous nature which is more like how I think his Origin wanted to be.
Jin= Strength/Power(Lightning). This one was a head racker but then I read the post about Jin being possibly the worst duelist out of this kids and Lightnings behavior makes more sense. Lightning is born from Jin’s desire to be stronger, to be powerful enough to get himself out of the situation he was in.
Jin essentially learned that being weak was bad, this in turn passes to Lightning who sees his origin as Weak so he must be the opposite to succeed. If your strong and powerful people can’t hurt you and you can’t hurt yourself. Lightning probably initially thought that if he pushes Jin harder then he will eventually learn what not to do and become stronger as result. So he upped the punishment, but instead of strengthening Jin it broke him instead.
Another detail to reflects need to be stronger could be his older brother. A tibit I found odd in the series when they mentioned how and why Shoichi was fighting and becoming a hacker. They deliberately mentioned that the older brother was really into sports as in playing them. It would make sense if Shoichi is stronger due to that, and maybe that’s a quality Jin admired before he got captured. It could also be that his brother was someone who protected him with that strength. Jin wish could be for his brother to save him with his strength or even that he was strong like his brother.
Jin wanted power to save himself.
Yusaku= Love(Ai). Yusaku wanted someone to love him and in turn love someone the same way. He seemed incredibly eager to go with a child he just met while the sun had been going down(presumably going home). I’m not sure how it work in Japan cause I know kids are allowed to wander but I’m pretty sure it’s not normal to be allowed so late.
It incredibly strange how out of. all the Lost children Yusaku was the only one who can’t remember his life beforehand. That’s like 2-3 years of developmental memories that are just gone! Why is it only he lost them?
A theory I have is either Neglect or an orphanage to begin with. He either didn’t have a family that cared for him or no family at all. Thus information in his head that he dumped out due to his trauma of the incident. I think that Yusaku may have actually had no one to begin with, so he wanted someone to love him. He may have been the happy lonely child type that relied on having friends to keep him happy.
Ai has a very interesting name, because while it is a simultaneous pun for A.I. and Eye, but anybody with basic understanding of Japanese knows Ai is also the word for love.There no way that wasn’t deliberate, fans would jump on that too. Ai is technically the closest person Yusaku has to a family, and while initially he was using Yusaku to get back home he genuinely cared about him as his Lost kid. Ai didn’t have to do alot of thing he did for Yusaku during the duration of the show, but he cares so he did it anyway even when his Lost kid was an ice prince.
This is all speculation and rambling but It helps me write each Ignis a bit better. And I wish the show didnt have to end so soon so we could have known what was up with that. So many answered questions.