The True Nature of Vanitas

[kirabook]

You know, I think about Vanitas a lot. One one hand, I call him my favorite villain because I'm a sap and the reason for Vanitas's appearance (Sora temporarily filling the empty space in Ven's broken heart, causing Vanitas to take a form similar to Sora) gets my feels going. I like how antagonistic he is towards Ven and even his manipulation of Ven's feelings towards his friends.

On the other, I feel kind of bad for him because I feel like calling him a villain equal to that of Xehanort feels wrong?

Of course, some of my feelings are influenced by the backstory the novels gave him (abused by Xehanort, desperate to rejoin with Ven, tons of self loathing and even more loathing towards Ven and his friends, self mutilation in some sense), but even within the game... isn't Vanitas someone we should be... 'saved'? He and Ven were once one person. In the end, Ven needs Vanitas to exist so they'll have to join together at some point without all the [chi]blade drama.

So, all this leads me to question his true nature.

Is Vanitas a bad person?
Well, like I said before, he and Ven were once the same person. While Vanitas is a heart made of pure darkness, we've already learned that darkness does not necessarily mean evil... it depends on how it's used right? I think Vanitas's aggression towards Ven (and himself) is purely because of how Xehanort ripped him from Ven's body and how Xehanort treated him. This doesn't make his actions ok or excusable, but it brings into question WHY he's acting this way. Is be because he's "just evil", or is really just demented and needs some forceful intervention.

Does Vanitas really have the goal of creating the [chi]blade?
This is the most speculative point, and the reason why he's a 'villain' technically. Does Vanitas really want the [chi]blade, or is he just following his master's orders? I think it's the latter. For much of the game, it didn't seem like Vanitas cared much about the [chi]blade, not until nearing the end.

Has Vanitas been norted?
This is another very speculative point, but I wonder how much 'Vanitas' there is left in there. We learned that the yellow eyes = Xehanort, not darkness. That means at some point, Vanitas must have been norted/infected, right? This ties into the question above, whether Vanitas is even acting on his own will anymore or if he's just part of the hive mind. I don't know much of a pass he would deserve if he's not acting on his own (or if he gets a pass at all), but I think anyone that has been norted against their will (not Braig, for example) deserves some kind of assistance.

What are your thoughts on this? Not exactly a "Should he be redeemed?" question. Just... whether or not Vanitas is evil in the same was as Xehanort and should be exterminated in the same way, or if Vanitas is more of a remote-controlled little ball of bad feelings who needs "help" rather than destruction. (Sorry for all the rambling)

 

[Sephiroth0812]

In the end, Ven needs Vanitas to exist so they'll have to join together at some point without all the [chi]blade drama.

I'm a bit in a hurry right now so I'll answer in more detail later, but I'd like to point out that this specific thing is not true.

Xehanort was completely ok with letting Ventus totally wither away on Destiny Islands when it looked like he wouldn't make it without implying any negative consequences for Vanitas, so Ventus' and Vanitas' existences are not dependent on each other.
After Sora's heart stabilized him, Ventus' heart also grew and recuperated completely fine on its own under the care of Eraqus, Terra and Aqua for four years.
They are two independent hearts that can exist independent from each other even if Vanitas' heart was initially born from within Ven's. It's like a cell division, both cells afterwards can exist on their own, they don't need to be put together again.

The reason Ventus' heart was so badly shattered in the finale of BBS was because of the X-blade prototype, not because of Vanitas' destruction.

 

[kirabook]

I'm a bit in a hurry right now so I'll answer in more detail later, but I'd like to point out that this specific thing is not true.

Xehanort was completely ok with letting Ventus totally wither away on Destiny Islands when it looked like he wouldn't make it without implying any negative consequences for Vanitas, so Ventus' and Vanitas' existences are not dependent on each other.
After Sora's heart stabilized him, Ventus' heart also grew and recuperated completely fine on its own under the care of Eraqus, Terra and Aqua for four years.
They are two independent hearts that can exist independent from each other even if Vanitas' heart was initially born from within Ven's. It's like a cell division, both cells afterwards can exist on their own, they don't need to be put together again.

The reason Ventus' heart was so badly shattered in the finale of BBS was because of the X-blade prototype, not because of Vanitas' destruction.

That's why I said "Ven needs Vanitas" and excluded "Vanitas needs Ven". It seems Vanitas is fine without Ven, but whenever Vanitas is out of the picture, Ven is either in shambles and easily broken again (maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Ven's ending gave me the impression that Ven was still pretty fragile). While Ven never seemed to be aware of Vanitas, Vanitas was always aware of Ven. Where he was, what he was feeling, his friends -even new ones like Mickey-, etc.

The X-blade prototype was both of their hearts badly smashed and pushed together, and destroying it supposedly destroyed both of them. I think Ven could totally live his life without Vanitas -but still connected to Sora-, but it seems Vanitas will always exist if Ven does, running the risk of another BbS ending.

 

[Dodi Dream]

I love Vanitas too and I thought about him a lot.
It's hard to say if he's really evil or if he's not. The game didn't really tell us about Vanitas past, and I don't know if the novel can be considered canon, but if they are I can't think of Vanitas as an evil person.
Like you said, he's been abused by Master Xehanort, it was him who said to Vanitas to make the X-blade and Vanitas made of forge the X-blade his purpose, but only because Master Xehanort told him and because he would have do anything to stop his suffers (correct me if I'm wrong, I read the novel long time ago). He was angry at Ven because he was somewhat jealous of the fact that Ven preferred Aqua and Terra at him and he didn't remember nothing about being separate from Vanitas. I always thought that the thing Vanitas really wanted was to being with Ven, to join with him.
To me all of this makes Vanitas more as a sad character than an evil one, but again, I don't know if the novels can be considered canon.
I think that if Vanitas is being norted it's not because he chose it, but more because Master Xehanort brainwashed him to make him choose to be Norted. I don't think he deserves the same treatment that deserve Master Xehanort, I really hope that he will be saved but I don't know if he's going to happen... At least I hope we'll get to know more about Vanitas in KH3.

I hope that what I wrote make sense, I'm sorry if it's not clear.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

That's why I said "Ven needs Vanitas" and excluded "Vanitas needs Ven". It seems Vanitas is fine without Ven, but whenever Vanitas is out of the picture, Ven is either in shambles and easily broken again (maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Ven's ending gave me the impression that Ven was still pretty fragile). While Ven never seemed to be aware of Vanitas, Vanitas was always aware of Ven. Where he was, what he was feeling, his friends -even new ones like Mickey-, etc.

The X-blade prototype was both of their hearts badly smashed and pushed together, and destroying it supposedly destroyed both of them. I think Ven could totally live his life without Vanitas -but still connected to Sora-, but it seems Vanitas will always exist if Ven does, running the risk of another BbS ending.

Ven also doesn't need Vanitas, like I said, the second "crushing" of Ven's heart was only due to destroying the X-blade which his heart became unwillingly part of. Anyone else in the same position who decided to destroy that X-blade would have suffered the same fate due to their heart being made part of it.
Vanitas wil literally always exist since there exist memories of him inside others and he has created memories of his own. In this vein he's not much different from Roxas, Xion and Naminé.
Memories are immortal and his heart is real even if it is pure Darkness.
So the answer of "neutralizing" the danger Vanitas presents can certainly not come from proposing having him fuse/join with Ventus, something the latter is (understandably) vehemently against even during BBS proper.

The whole disaster in the BBS finale was forced upon Ven by Vanitas in the first place, so I would not be surprised if after having to endure this whole shit of literal heartbreaking a second time and getting a decade-long coma out of it on top too Ventus would be decisively against letting Vanitas anywhere near his heart again, not to even entertain any notion of fusing/joining together at all.
After all, he did already tell him "I'm through with you" on Destiny Islands which is basically a more polite version of "piss off". ;P


Edit:
On the canonicity of the KH novels in general, this is a mixed bag as there have been instances where parts of some novels were later incorporated into the main series (games) while there are also some parts that were outright contradicted.
There exist also few actual translations of the BBS novels, most of them being summaries which tend to have personal interpretations and feelings mixed into it.

There is no official policy on it, but many fans choose to treat the novels as second-tier canon (as Nomura does have some input on them and the author is part of his staff) behind the games and interviews and take parts not outright contradicted by higher sources as provisorily canon material.

 

[Grono]

Vanitas seemed generally unconcerned when he beat Ven in their first battle, even going as far as to attempting to murder him. He would have succeeded in sticking his keyblade in if King Mickey hadn't intervened. If he had been norted, certainly a big part of him would have told him not to do that, right?

And of course Vanitas wanted to form the X-Blade. The whole point of him doing that is so he can be whole and finally feel complete, on top of ending his suffering once and for all. Why would he be following orders, unless by "following orders" you mean having Xehanort tell him how to end his suffering?

Just a couple of thoughts.

 

[VoidGear.]

Is Vanitas a bad person?

Well...yes.
Even if there are reasons he fights, even if what the novels state is true and he endured years os suffering, that doesn't change the fact that he is brutal, arrogant and doesn't care about anyone else's suffering either.
It just doesn't mean that he has to be a bad person forever, if given any other options.

Does Vanitas really have the goal of creating the [chi]blade?

Yes and no. It seems like he's interested in it for the reason of recompletion, but probably doesn't have the same intentions to use it and just follows orders because that's what he's told is the only thing he can do.

Has Vanitas been norted?

I'd love to say now but as of now, yeah, the yellow eyes imply that he has. :s I hope that if he has, there's some way to undo that. (Not only for him, but overall.)

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Vanitas seemed generally unconcerned when he beat Ven in their first battle, even going as far as to attempting to murder him. He would have succeeded in sticking his keyblade in if King Mickey hadn't intervened. If he had been norted, certainly a big part of him would have told him not to do that, right?

And of course Vanitas wanted to form the X-Blade. The whole point of him doing that is so he can be whole and finally feel complete, on top of ending his suffering once and for all. Why would he be following orders, unless by "following orders" you mean having Xehanort tell him how to end his suffering?

Just a couple of thoughts.

Sure that, but as said before no one in the audience knows when exactly Vanitas got norted because we never see his face before the finale of BBS. Braig started out with brown eyes in BBS itself and during the finale they were golden and the game made a point about it visually by zooming in on the golden eyes. With Vanitas it was the same.
So it is not entirely impossible that during the first meeting between Vanitas and Ventus in the Badlands where Vanitas entertained the thought of defying the master's orders (as by his own words) he was not yet norted and it happened between his first fight against Ven & Mickey and the finale.
The only thing we can be sure about is that by the time of the BBS finale, when we get to see Van's actual face, he does have a part of Xehanort in him.

The game actually doesn't tell us that and as I said the information of the novels has to be treated cautionally. It is a possibility but it is not confirmed that this was truly Vanitas' motivation. Strictly spoken we do not have any tangible information on his own motivations (beyond spreading chaos and hating on Ven and his friendships) as neither the game nor any of the interviews surrounding BBS address the issue. In the light of possible norting and essentially having been molded solely by Xehanort for four years it can possibly even be questioned if he can have any personal motivations of his own whim, which goes interestingly back to the OPs original question about what actually Vanitas' true nature is.

Since Xehanort describes him as an "empty creature" when first created, one can infer that Vanitas was at first somewhat similar to the newly born Roxas as the latter started out more or less "empty" due to Kairi's restoration of Sora preventing Roxas getting Sora's memories while he still had Ven's sleeping heart with him. Vanitas too started out mostly empty, but with a piece of Ven's heart inside him, notably the darkness part.
With or without direct norting, it is implied that during the four years between his creation and BBS starting proper the only major connection and influence Vanitas had was Master Xehanort and since there was only darkness to begin with it was a field day for the old coot.
Going by that it is rather obvious that Vanitas is not an inherently evil being, but that nonetheless doesn't change the fact that what little we see of him during BBS proper is a really nasty package who doesn't really give anyone an incentive other than to loathe and avoid/shun his presence.
Furthermore, while several people invoke the novels, they often only argument with one or two chapters in regards to Vanitas backstory to collect sympathy points, but neglect the if I recall correctly also existing points in the novels where it is shown that Vanitas was very abusive and violent towards Ventus even before Xehanort did anything and another reason Xehanort took him to Eraqus is firmly because Vanitas wouldn't leave him alone.
So blaming everything on Xehanort, no matter how deeply involved and responsible he unquestionably is, is also not painting the full picture.

He seemed also to be quite excited about having the X-blade itself and witnessing the start of another Keyblade War as his bragging and babbling towards Aqua in the finale of her story indicates. There's no hint about only wanting to rejoin with Ventus or find "salvation" at all. When looking solely at BBS the game it comes over as nothing but a madman wanting to see the world burn.

Well...yes.
Even if there are reasons he fights, even if what the novels state is true and he endured years os suffering, that doesn't change the fact that he is brutal, arrogant and doesn't care about anyone else's suffering either.
It just doesn't mean that he has to be a bad person forever, if given any other options.

Yes and no. It seems like he's interested in it for the reason of recompletion, but probably doesn't have the same intentions to use it and just follows orders because that's what he's told is the only thing he can do.

I'd love to say now but as of now, yeah, the yellow eyes imply that he has. :s I hope that if he has, there's some way to undo that. (Not only for him, but overall.)

Indeed, that is completely correct.
Almost everything we have seen so far in the way how Vanitas acts and what he does is negative and harmful to others, so far he hasn't done a single positive thing in the series so in this vein he can be described as a "bad" person and strictly spoken even put into the same category as Xehanort.
Note however that this does not imply that he's in the same league of "evil" or as bad (or worse) than Xehanort. It just means that in terms of the current status of the narrative, without counting in any possible developments during KH III, they stand at the same field of the playing board. Which new roads they take in the future of the series is still up in the air.

Indeed, although this definitely goes back to the notion if Vanitas can change or not, you can't bring the topic of him "deserving" something better than Xehanort as brought up by the OP without going into the premise that he has to change to some degree.
In order to be even given any other options there need to be people, at least one person, being actually willing to offer possible other options.
If he continues to just harm and hurt everyone around him with impunity why should anyone have the incentive to offer something or entertain thoughts different to "you're only causing harm everywhere, you need to be put down!"?

See, and that's where I think things do not add up at all. His speech to Aqua in the BBS finale may indicate several things, but certainly not the yearning for "recompletion" or salvation. In his statements towards Ventus himself he also always speaks only about "completing the X-blade" itself, indicating way more interest in the weapon itself rather than anything else.

I have an assumption that in order to truly defeat Xehanort for good, all his "seeds" will be needed to be put together again somehow anyways as else he could just endure by transferring his main essence to a still existing seed even when defeated.
In Vanitas' case though there needs to be also the question asked if the Xehanort-seed is removed, remains there enough "material" for a being of its own to endure?
Considering he was almost solely influenced by Xehanort for the majority of the five years of his existence, will there be enough actual "Vanitas" to keep his heart stable after Xehanort is removed?
In contrast Roxas actively developed due to several connections, including Sora, Axel, Xion, Riku, Naminé (possibly Ven indirectly) and a bunch of Disney characters like i.e. Tinkerbell or Genie and the same goes for Naminé and Xion.


---

So, to bring the whole thing full circle back with the central question of the OP:

Just... whether or not Vanitas is evil in the same was as Xehanort and should be exterminated in the same way, or if Vanitas is more of a remote-controlled little ball of bad feelings who needs "help" rather than destruction.

For the first part I am confident to say that "Vanitas is evil in the same way as Xehanort" can be answered with a clear no.
He is certainly a pretty nasty individual and so far has done nothing in the series itself in terms of actions or intentions to earn the "second chance/help"-package (a sad backstory is no excuse for current behaviour, Roxas, Naminé or even Ventus himself have also quite the sad backstory and are suffering victims and yet they don't act like vicious, jealous douchebags who deliberately hurt others), but it is highly probable that he became like that because of Xehanort's influence and that there might be a capability for him to be more than the "abomination without hope of salvation".
It is a delicate thin line that has to be handled with care to make a believable scenario out of it, but the crux is certainly if

Vanitas is capable of reflection and remorse like Ansem the Wise and Riku and thus gives the precedence for someone being willing to give him a chance.

In the end it all comes down to this one point.
Vanitas needs someone who's willing to give him a chance he's also willing to take and if it shouldn't look like an asspull he has to actually do something that will give someone the incentive to give that chance.
If he retains his totally violent and abusive personality from BBS proper to 100% though this scenario could not happen without sending a really bad message as in i.e. actually rewarding an abusers bad behaviour.

 

[Luxu]

My question is why is Vanitas so goddam strong compared to Ventus?

Ven can't even leave a mark on him on their first battle, or battles afterwards (Only the final one does Ventus beat Vanitas).

I expect more from a Dandelion, but maybe Ventus had more darkness than light to begin with?

 

[Sephiroth0812]

My question is why is Vanitas so goddam strong compared to Ventus?

Ven can't even leave a mark on him on their first battle, or battles afterwards (Only the final one does Ventus beat Vanitas).

I expect more from a Dandelion, but maybe Ventus had more darkness than light to begin with?

I don't know where you get this constant need from to portray Ventus as weak or Vanitas as soo much stronger? If you would actually pay attention to BBS as a whole you would see that this isn't true at all.
The only time where Ventus did lose against Vanitas was the first battle. In the second one he DID leave "a mark" or to be more precise, destroyed Vanitas' complete body, Ventus won that fight. Vanitas himself confirmed that and he had to resort to cowardly using his Unversed in order to force a fusion.
The reason why Ventus was somewhat "weaker" during the beginning of BBS was because Eraqus deliberately kept his training slower paced and spread out out of fear for what could happen if he becomes too powerful and because of his own insecurities.
He does become Vanitas' equal over the course of BBS though as otherwise the whole ordeal in the finale would not make sense. It was stated several times that they have to be even in power when they clash, otherwise the forging of the X-blade won't work.

He could melt himself out of a completely frozen state by sheer willpower while at the same time tapping into his light powers so maybe you ought to get off your high horse about this.
Him possibly being a Dandelion is not only just a theory up to now, there is also no indication that Dandelions in general have to be stronger than already established characters of the current timeline.

 

[kirabook]

So, to bring the whole thing full circle back with the central question of the OP:


For the first part I am confident to say that "Vanitas is evil in the same way as Xehanort" can be answered with a clear no.
He is certainly a pretty nasty individual and so far has done nothing in the series itself in terms of actions or intentions to earn the "second chance/help"-package (a sad backstory is no excuse for current behaviour, Roxas, Naminé or even Ventus himself have also quite the sad backstory and are suffering victims and yet they don't act like vicious, jealous douchebags who deliberately hurt others), but it is highly probable that he became like that because of Xehanort's influence and that there might be a capability for him to be more than the "abomination without hope of salvation".
It is a delicate thin line that has to be handled with care to make a believable scenario out of it, but the crux is certainly if

In the end it all comes down to this one point.
Vanitas needs someone who's willing to give him a chance he's also willing to take and if it shouldn't look like an asspull he has to actually do something that will give someone the incentive to give that chance.
If he retains his totally violent and abusive personality from BBS proper to 100% though this scenario could not happen without sending a really bad message as in i.e. actually rewarding an abusers bad behaviour.

I put "help" in parenthesis because I'm not thinking about his sad backstory or getting redemption. It's hard to explain, but I was thinking more along the lines of a gentle put down (like Repliku if that makes sense, that's what I mean by 'gentle') compared to Xehanort, who I imagine they try to banish in every way possible just to make sure he's gone for good (unless KH is going to go soft on the biggest villain ever and give him a redemption arc)

So I'm not saying they should give him a chance, or be nice to him or anything like that. Just... for example, how Sora came to understand the nobodies plight and how they were lied to and manipulated: That probably wouldn't have changed how Sora behaved in KH2 (maybe he would have been a little less antagonistic) and he would probably still fight and defeat them. I just wonder if the same understanding can be extended to Vanitas that doesn't lead to them holding back or being soft, orrrr will Vanitas just be treated as pure evil and just exterminated like a roach.

I feel like it might be the latter given Ven's reaction to him and knowing Vanitas was just his other half. I mean, Vanitas stalked him, beat him up, etc etc. While the novels imply they were both mistreated by Xehanort, Vanitas also mistreated Ven so badly that Xehanort had the separate the two worlds apart (I think in-game Xehanort simply says he couldn't train the two of them together, but didn't specify exactly why, which is where the novel fills it in).

He seemed also to be quite excited about having the X-blade itself and witnessing the start of another Keyblade War as his bragging and babbling towards Aqua in the finale of her story indicates. There's no hint about only wanting to rejoin with Ventus or find "salvation" at all. When looking solely at BBS the game it comes over as nothing but a madman wanting to see the world burn.

I just don't know how to feel about Vanitas. While he naturally has a negative opinion of Ven due to their separation (based on the novels), I still feel like his fascination with the [chi]blade is not his own. He wouldn't have even known about it if it weren't for Xehanort. He wouldn't even be able to created the [chi]blade if Xehanort had not split him in two. The way that face reveal first shows his golden eyes and then zooms out to him squaking about joining together and creating the [chi]blade... Xehanort can't be blamed for the Unversed or Vanitas's natural opposition to Ven, but if Xehanort had not shaped Vanitas into what he wanted, I think Vanitas, the dark part of Ven's heart, would have just followed Ven for malicious purposes, but not to create an ultimate weapon that Xehaort happens to want.

My question is why is Vanitas so goddam strong compared to Ventus?

The actual answer is, darkness always appears to have the upper hand throughout the series, but it can be matched or overtaken if handled properly. The first time Ven and Vanitas fought, Ven was obviously undertrained and unprepared. He talked big game, but he had never been in a real fight (during his time with Eraqus).

The second time they fight, Ven beats him so badly that Vanitas can't even retain a physical form.

If Ven appears to be weaker than Vanitas, it's an illusion created by the idea that 'light' is the underdog that eventually wins. Probably. Eventually.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I put "help" in parenthesis because I'm not thinking about his sad backstory or getting redemption. It's hard to explain, but I was thinking more along the lines of a gentle put down (like Repliku if that makes sense, that's what I mean by 'gentle') compared to Xehanort, who I imagine they try to banish in every way possible just to make sure he's gone for good (unless KH is going to go soft on the biggest villain ever and give him a redemption arc)

So I'm not saying they should give him a chance, or be nice to him or anything like that. Just... for example, how Sora came to understand the nobodies plight and how they were lied to and manipulated: That probably wouldn't have changed how Sora behaved in KH2 (maybe he would have been a little less antagonistic) and he would probably still fight and defeat them. I just wonder if the same understanding can be extended to Vanitas that doesn't lead to them holding back or being soft, orrrr will Vanitas just be treated as pure evil and just exterminated like a roach.

I feel like it might be the latter given Ven's reaction to him and knowing Vanitas was just his other half. I mean, Vanitas stalked him, beat him up, etc etc. While the novels imply they were both mistreated by Xehanort, Vanitas also mistreated Ven so badly that Xehanort had the separate the two worlds apart (I think in-game Xehanort simply says he couldn't train the two of them together, but didn't specify exactly why, which is where the novel fills it in).



I just don't know how to feel about Vanitas. While he naturally has a negative opinion of Ven due to their separation (based on the novels), I still feel like his fascination with the [chi]blade is not his own. He wouldn't have even known about it if it weren't for Xehanort. He wouldn't even be able to created the [chi]blade if Xehanort had not split him in two. The way that face reveal first shows his golden eyes and then zooms out to him squaking about joining together and creating the [chi]blade... Xehanort can't be blamed for the Unversed or Vanitas's natural opposition to Ven, but if Xehanort had not shaped Vanitas into what he wanted, I think Vanitas, the dark part of Ven's heart, would have just followed Ven for malicious purposes, but not to create an ultimate weapon that Xehaort happens to want.

Ah, I see.
Well, that is of course a decidedly different point of view to take, as a "gentle put down" certainly does eliminate the danger of the victims getting betrayed and hurt again even if they do show a more emphatic approach.
On Xehanort, while I am certainly not really into giving him out of all people a redemption arc (he's practically directly responsible for more than 90% of the suffering the major characters have to endure and indirectly for 5% more and thus a truly believable redemption arc would have to be longer than Riku's), but I won't put it past the writers pulling such a move even if he doesn't deserve it at all.

Considering Vanitas' overblown ego and abrasive general personality I am not even sure that "being nice" would actually move or affect him enough to make a difference, at least not with the material that has been canonically shown so far.
As for the whole thing with the Nobodies and their "plight", it is as Riku rightfully says to Xemnas during the finale of KH 2. No matter the circumstances, the Nobodies were still causing massive harm to the worlds, siccing Heartless on people in order to make more Heartless and then holding millions of Hearts captive in an artifcial Kingdom Hearts, preventing them from reuniting with their bodies and being able to return.
Had Sora known about the deception beforehand though he would however probably have done everything possible in order to inform the Nobodies that they can gain a heart in other means than what Xemnas propagated and Xemnas' power base would have been totally eroded. That's most likely also why Xemnas and Xigbar kept the whole thing a secret so zealously, precisely in order to prevent such a scenario.
Ansem the Wise/DiZ found out about the whole thing in his research, but due to his revenge-clouded mind refused to accept the facts and ignored it.

In the end, I fear, even such a solution would eventually hinge on how Vanitas' behaviour evolves (or not) over the course of KH III and if he gets any somewhat closer relationship with any of the major good characters that isn't entirely antagonistic and/or abusive as in order to extend an "understanding" towards Vanitas instead of treating him as "pure evil" one would need to know his story beforehand.
That's where the additional issue on top comes into play that no one except himself and Xehanort actually know about his backstory (providing that any of it is truly canon after all) and that there's no actual reason to spur anyone of the major good guys' interest in actually learning about it nor for him to actually share it.
Sora's interest in the plight of the Nobodies and if they can really have hearts or not came mostly from his own interactions with both Roxas and Naminé, neither of whom ever actively tried to harm or abuse him. Naminé did some objectively nasty things, but did so under pressure from a third force and gave Sora immediately to understand how much she regrets it and how sorry she is.
Such a relationship is entirely absent in Vanitas' case and arguing with Ventus just because he was originally a part of him doesn't really fit as the relationship between these two is much, much different and magnitudes more toxic than the one between Sora and Roxas or Sora and Naminé.
Ventus does know that Vanitas originally came from him, but his reactions and behaviour strongly indicate that not only does he no longer consider Vanitas a part of him (he has his own, developed heart now anyways, no matter how warped, much like Sora considers Roxas his own being too) but also doesn't want to associate with him in any form either.
It may certainly be implied (and even true) that both of them were mistreated and abused by Xehanort, but the fact indeed remains that Vanitas mistreated Ventus too (and as far as we know that was not done under orders by Xehanort) so why should he give a damn that his abuser was mistreated by another as well? For Ventus, both Xehanort and Vanitas would raise a red alarm flag in terms of "avoid" or "oppose" which is arguably a normal, relateable human reaction.
(In-game Xehanort doesn't address the reasons why he had to separate Ven and Van verbally but in the Xehanort reports, but the implications of what the novels arguably flesh out are there, it is just worded more cloudy).


See, that's the thing and problem with the whole Nortification process and blurry lines between what is own motivation and what is heavily influenced by Xehanort himself. In that vein, both Vanitas and Isa/Saix have somewhat the same problem to determine what's truly their "evil" and what can be attributed to Xehanort.
If Xehanort had not "shaped" Vanitas into the tool he wanted for his plans, it is questionable in what direction Vanitas would have developed at all since he was practically an "empty slate" like Roxas with a newborn heart that just happened to be completely made of Darkness.

 

[G-SANtos]

Vanitas needs someone who's willing to give him a chance he's also willing to take and if it shouldn't look like an asspull he has to actually do something that will give someone the incentive to give that chance.

Maybe Young Xehanort? There has been hints Young Xehanort is not actually evil and is only acting out of a sense that there's no hope for him. I could see him befriending Vanitas, since they would look about the same age, and perhaps that friendship is what actually leads to Vanitas's redemption. Afterall, isn't this series all about the power of frienship? What better way to show this power than to reddem "an abomination beyond the hope of salvation" through friendship? I mean, it was friendship that basically changed the way Axel was being written.