okhi12

If they become vessels they will be different from the original Foretellers, but more similar to Xehanort. It all depends on how their dilemma (if any) manifests. But I think the hypothetical datascape Foretellers becoming vessels would be very plausible given how manipulative Xehanort is, as you said.

I said it may be possible, but I doubt it. And the keyblade war was 1000 years ago, not eons ago.I don't think the sixth apprentice was Xehanort, just that he may have his keyblade.And the Foretellers would have the similar reasons than those of Xehanort to transfer their hearts, and get the light for themselves, each of them has its own goals and they may not be as well intentioned as they seem to be. They may have started the war under the pretext of saving the worlds. If the heartless are in KHX, they have been summoned by the book. Why summon dark beings if they really want to protect the world? Nonsense. Just excuses to harvest light for themselves, the very cause of the war. This would explain some things, but it is just a guess, I'm not saying anything as fact.

I can see that in KH, but I would be more concerned about becoming someone else than just not being real at all. A replica wants a sense of self, it's own identity. Becoming someone else is the problem and not the answer, because Riku Replica hated to be a copy of Riku. The Foretellers becoming vessels means the same as becoming a copy of Xehanort, it just aggravate the dilemma. But I think there would not be dilemma. Xion was a refined replica and she had a different dilemma. She wanted to know who she was, but she liked to be herself because of her friends. She didn't hate Sora or Roxas, and developed a true self. If the Foretellers' Replicas are a high quality replica as Xion was, they may overcome the dilemma as well.

I'm not saying that Xehanort traveled back in time to recruit them in the Lost Masters era, but the Lost Masters/Foretellers being alive in present time due to them transfering their hearts to vessels. I don't think the real Foretellers would need Xehanort's help in any way to do it. In KHX it is said that they act according to their own motivations; their goals seem to be questionable, they may have their own reasons to transfer their hearts. Whether or not Xehanort existed in that period is irrelevant. But he may have existed somehow. The sixth apprentice wears a black coat, which was invented by Ansem the Wise. The sixth apprentice is probably related to Xehanort one way or the other, and probably wielded Xehanort's keyblade (a will that is passed on). If he has a black coat, it must have been summoned by the Tome of Prophecy. What if Xehanort has been summoned from the book as well? Xehanort could time travel to that distant era because a version of him exists there, even if that version of Xehanort is just a recreation. I don't think this happened, but we all know Nomura. If he wants to convolute the plot, he'll find the way to do it. Like he did with time travel. The tome of Prophecy is a Deus ex Machina, it can be the answer to any plot hole without explaining anything at all."This is possible because the book summoned it from the future and that's it". And what would be the point of Xehanort creating a data Daybreak Town? He wants to initiate a Keyblade War in the destined place, seemingly the Keyblade Graveyard.

This has not much to do with Vanitas, but I've been thinking that if the X-Blade was shattered into 20 pieces and 7 of those pieces are the 7 Princesses's hearts of pure light, then the Keyblade of Hearts from KH1 wielded by Riku-Ansem was something like a half X-Blade, right? Because it was made with the hearts of all Princesses except Kairi's. Should that keyblade have been completed with Kairi's heart, it would be technically the light half of the X-Blade. What if master xehanort's keyblade was made of the 13 pieces of darkness? His keyblade is the most ancient in existence and it is implied that it has something unique to it (a will that is passed on), and looks really evil and dark. The X-Blade seen on BBS looked like two crossed Kingdom keys. Maybe the real X-Blade looks similar, but the two keyblades composing it are Master Xehanort's Keyblade crossed with the complete keyblade of the Princesses' hearts. That would be the reason why the 13 Xehanort incarnations are after the 7 princesses, to get the light half of the X-Blade, and fuse it with the dark half. That way they would not be recreating their own version of the X-Blade but the REAL one with the original pieces. There are many Xehanorts to ensure that al least one would survive and forge the X-Blade, because as the 13 bear xehanort's heart, all would be able to wield MX's Keyblade. And all the story about the seven guardians and 13 seekers is just a distorted version of the truth elaborated by Xehanort. He is too smart to reveal the true nature of his plans as he seems to do in KH3D, that's suspicious.

Well, the process can be done backwards, and then it can be reverted. Sora was completely (by completely I mean Mind/Soul, Body and Heart) transformed into data and entered Space paranoids, and then, being just data, reverted to a real being in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden when he exited Space paranoids. The same with Donald and Goofy, and happened again in KH Coded when Mickey, Donald, Goofy; Pete and Maleficent entered the Datascape and they get out of it. Even Roxas was made into data in the Virtual Twilight Town, and exited it before merging with Sora If I remember well. My point is, if you completely transform a real being into data and then it can be reverted back to real, then artificial data should be allowed to be processed backwards to become real. Because data is just data, and the way it is processed should be the same. Sure, this may not be the case, but in an universe were Heartless ARE hearts (meh) and people can be divided into Heartless that are hearts and Nobodies who result to be somebody's body (yeah... KH stuff) and can become somebody after growing a heart (what?) it would not be so strange that artificial data becomes real. OK, I'll be serious again... we just need to merge the process to create replica, and the artificial simulation foretellers and we have something that may not be the true original foretellers, but for practical purposes serve like they are. After all, If the data or illusion foretellers are summoned by the Book of Prophecy and implanted into replica bodies, they would be exactly the same as the originals... and potential Xehanort vessels. I'm almost sure this reasoning may be full of holes that I'm yet to see, but if Nomura invented all that time travel stuff in KH3D with a pretty lame explication (more like doesn't explaining anything at all), I think this is at the very least plausible.

Maybe there is no need of "Virtual Foretellers". Given the similarities between Master Xehanort's keyblade and the ones wielded by the foretellers, I'm pretty sure they are able to transfer their hearts and live forever as keyblade masters are able to do (as said in MX reports). That could extend to the Foretellers as well. I guess they are at the same level of Keyblade Masters regarding use of the keyblade. So their present time incarnations could be the remaining SoD and complete the new Organisation XIII. Or maybe Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx and Luxord return as their original selves and join the XIII, although thats very unlikely because they were already deemed as inadequate.