Bruno Heller, show's creator, says that Red John isn't a "pathetic loser who is hiding out in a basement somewhere", and continues that Jane is "not fighting the Green River Killer. He's fighting Moriarty." Professor Moriarty is a character in Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Jane obviously shares a lot of the same characteristics as both Holmes and Moriarty all of whom are extremely intelligent with incredible deductive reasoning skills. I believe that each Holmes and Moriarty represent the two sides of Patrick Jayne. Holmes works as a freelance detective (or consultant) to the police exactly what Jayne does and Moriarty (Red John) his self proclaimed arch-enemy. If I could put a Venn diagram on here I could but to my knowledge I can not but there are many differences between Moriarty (Red John) and Holmes (Jayne) but obviously many similar ones as well. I don't know why I did not see this connection before but after I read that quote from Bruner Heller stating that Red John was Like Moriarty it clicked. I might be looking to far into this but we are talking about a T.V. show and not a real life conspiracy theory. Holmes if you have read any of the stories or even seen the movie although not quite as accurate is not a huge fan of law enforcement and often spends him time partaking in my nefarious activities drugs etc. Holmes is also a big fan of the ends justify the means he regularly crosses the line to solve a case just like Jayne and often does not share his findings with the police wanting to solve the cases on his own terms. Holmes also is a master manipulator and liar just like Jayne as well and will cross just about any line or anyone innocent or not to solve the case. Holmes like Jayne has quite the ego bordering on narcissistic and obviously arrogant they both draw pleasure from baffling police with their superior deductions. They don't seek fame and usually are content with letting the police take the credit. They both love showmanship using elaborate traps to catch the culprit. They both see the cases and "clients" as mere pons in their game and neither fall for the women even if they see them as beautiful intelligent women they might have relations with the girl but it is most always because of an underlying motive. I could go on and on about the similarities of these two men but there are just to many to write down it would just take way to long and I am not quite that invested in this. There are some differences between the two but I suspect that Heller did not want to Copy Conan to the tee such as Holmes expert knowledge of martial arts Jayne never shows any signs of being able to handle himself anywhere near the level of Holmes. Just as I said there are many intersecting qualities between Holmes/Jayne and Moriarty/Red John. We do not know a while lot about Red John but I will try my best. They obviously all love showmanship Holmes/Jayne with their elaborate schemes and traps and Red John and Moriarty with the obviously display of power, control, their ability to play the "game", and the way red John kills his victims and the great lengths he goes to to cover up his mistakes and only hand over the evidence he wants them to find playing on his great need to be far superior then his opponents much like Moriarty. However like Holmes with Moriarty and Moriarty with Holmes Jayne and Red john both have great respect for one another and recognize that their opponent is just as skilled if not more then they are. Moriarty often assures Holmes of his inevitable destruction and he is consistently playing games with Holmes often playing on Holmes emotions the few he has or more so the few he admits he has Red john is always playing games with Jayne and obviously killing his family was the ultimate challenge. Moriarty and Jed John seem to have a terrible temper like when Red John kills Jaynes family and that other serial killer just because they questioned his ability. Morairty and red John actually like tangling with Holmes and Jayne seeing it as a treat that some one that matches their intellect but also willing to Kill Holmes and Jayne if they become to much trouble. Red John and Moriarty are both heads of vast large organized crime rings but remain fiercely independent. Moriarty was originally created to finally kill Holmes but Conan let him go in a blaze of glory. There are just to many similarities between those four characters to dismiss any connection I could probably fill a novel on this theory and the connections. Jayne and Red John in the show seem like they are yin and yang but they have to many similarities in common, Holmes and Moriarty were obviously not the same person so it could be a different person but unlike Holmes' story I believe that Jayne and Red John are in fact the same person as some one else said he could have blackouts or a personality disorder such as DID like in the united states of tara. I do not really want Jayne to be Red John and honestly we do not know enough about Red John to find a definite culprit so now we can just hypothesize, I think Heller would be taking the easy way out if Jayne is in fact Red John there wouldn't be as much back story required because we already know Jayne is capable and has the skills and know how to do everything red John is doing. Heller if I am correct these characters were based on Holmes and Moriarty probably wouldn't choose Jayne to end up being red John to stay true to the story he is trying to tell in a more modern time but like i said there are so many similarities of these two stories but many differences as well so it could very well be Jayne. I know I am going back and fourth but with the information we know Jayne seems to be the most likely suspect because as far as we know he is really the only one with the mind that could play against his own mind even the great leader of that cult was doped by Jayne in the end.