How did Baltar's and Caprica-Six's illusions communicate?

Question

In the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, we learn that Caprica-Six and Baltar have a shared illusion. The illusions are not each other's consciousness being kept by some Cylon link, they are actual people from the future who appear identical to Baltar and Caprica-Six. How did the illusions communicate with their counterpart?

Did they have access to new Cylon technology that allowed some sort of time travel? If so why did they not attempt to break the cycle, themselves (physically)? and Why did they intervene? Was it because they wished to break the cycle or prevent the extinguish of life in general? Why did Baltar and Caprica-Six not experience the connection to their counterparts before or during the Holocaust?

Answer 1

They're not from the future or past. They are angels in the traditional sense of the term, a supernatural being. Glen A. Larson was the producer/creator of the original Battlestar back in the 70s. He is a Mormon and was working on a sci-fi series using biblical teaching of the Mormon church called Adam's Ark. That got reworked into the original BSG we have come to know.

The reboot done by R.D. Moore kept the underlying religious undertones. You'll even notice that at the end of the series where it's current day earth the two angels are talking and the Angel Six mentions "God's plan" and the Angel Baltar says "You know he doesn't like that name". I think they're making it pretty clear that we are dealing with supernatual beings that work on behalf of a supreme power entity.

Answer 2

The goal of the 'Angels' seems to be to insure that humanity and Cylons both survive each cycle of:

1. Humans make Cylons
2. Cylons rebel
3. They try to kill each other.

Each of them guided Baltar and Caprica to avert the loss of what few humans were left, and helped guide the humans to a new world where they could start the cycle again. They didn't show up until after the genocide started as that's the earliest they had to get to action. It's possible they helped make sure specific people survived the holocaust, but that's just speculation on my part.

Also, they're not from the future, they're from the distant past. They're humans or Cylons from thousands of years ago from a cycle where they got far more technologically advanced than the Colonies. It's possible they're Lords of Kobol, but they could be older than that.

I don't think it's clear they actually have a physical presence. The most egregious use of force was when Angel Six picked up Baltar in S3 or S4. Pretty much all of that could be done via manipulation of the human body (ala The Matrix, only wirelessly), given sufficient advancement. Since they can appear to only one person in a room (or multiple people, if they wish), that's what I assumed was happening.

Answer 3

How could you believe they were from the future or the past? There is only one logical conclusion and that is that they are Angels of God there to guide two civilizations to a new beginning and the start of a new cycle.

They were also meant to teach people the belief in God and that while we do have free will it make come with a little push or nudge in the right direction. An angel appears to Kara in the form of her father to guide her to the song and the President sees an Angel in the form of her priestess when the hybrid goes jump crazy chasing the resurrection hub. Always in the form of those closest to you to help guid you on the path and shape your free will.

Furthermore, it is apparent in the final episodes (Daybreak II and III) that certain people were guided along a path to survival and leadership, e.g., Roslin's entire family had to die on Caprica before she would enter politics.

Answer 4

You seem to have leapt to some conclusions without actually watching the entire series. I see there are other answers that contain spoilers already. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but some are inevitable given the nature of the question.

They are not "illusions." Their nature is left somewhat unclear, but the simplest explanation is (as Head Six repeatedly tells Baltar) that they are angels. Their full level of knowledge or power is never specified, but we know that they can intervene physically when they choose - we witness this when Head Six physically lifts Baltar to receive a beating from a guard (to reinforce his image among his followers).

A (probably) similar being guides Starbuck through the events of Maelstrom, apparently including the ability to travel at will through space and time.

Remember the saying, "all of this has happened before, and will happen again"? My pet belief is that the "angels" are people from past cycles who, through some amount of suffering or learning, attained a higher state of being; I think there is some form of reincarnation in the show; I think we witness Starbuck attain this state during the cycle the show focuses on. However, there's no evidence for that, it's just an idea I like. Many areas were deliberately left unspecified (even the main writers of the show would probably disagree with each other in some cases), because spelling everything out would reduce the wonder and the role of the viewer's imagination.