Who is Red John?

Share your own theory and rate other people’s

List of seven

Thomas McAllister
Thomas McAllister Reede Smith
Reede Smith Ray Haffner
Ray Haffner Gale Bertram
Gale Bertram Brett Partridge
Brett Partridge Bret Stiles
Bret Stiles Bob Kirkland
Bob Kirkland

LATEST THEORIES

"Finding Red John is like finding waldo in a children's book." 

I watched the Red Mile today on TV and after watching it I noticed something shocking. Dr. Steiner has a slouched posture, and when Red John saves Jane in the end of season 2, he also has a somewhat slouched posture.
Dr. Steiner matches Red John physically in that aspect.

Also, Dr. Steiner is fairly old. From the previous episode, "The Red Barn", we have found out that Red John started his killing spree much earlier than we thought. This means that Red John is fairly old, and this matches Dr. Steiner since he's old as well.

Moving on, we know Red John is a mastermind and can be deceptive. Dr. Steiner seems to be clueless through out the whole episode, but randomly in the episode he shows some great understanding of the mind and it's ability to cause hallucinations (signs of Dr. Steiner being skilled in hypnosis maybe? ). Regardless, Dr. Steiner definitely could be Red John.

Lastly, Dr. Steiner and Jane seem to like each other and Jane plays tricks on him and Steiner finds them fascinating, like a kid watching a Disney movie. He is very good at hiding his true identity, his Red John identity. Also, Dr. Steiner has Patrick watch him kill himself with pills. Maybe he did this so Patrick would never suspect him to be Red John.

Also, Dr. Steiner dies (fakes his death I assume) a few episodes before the epic season 3 finale. So now Red John is off the radar, and Patrick will never know. Here we are in season 5 thinking CBI Ron is red john or brett stiles, when clearly they can't be red john since they're too obvious, etc.

If Dr. Steiner isn't Red John, then I'd have to place my money on Walter Mashburn.


Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely
Theory #1311 • By ThePrinceIsRedJohn
Show this theory

My guess is Red John is the prince who plays backgammon with Patrick.
In episode 21 of the first season, when Jane and Cho look for a con woman(Brooke Harper) and they go to the Backgammon Club.There, waiting for Brooke, we see Jane playing with someone who we learn is a prince a moment later when Jane tells Cho "First prince I ever met".
It's a short scene, one of those you watch and never think too much about it.And then it got me thinking, what is a prince doing in USA, especially in a backgammon club?Of course, he could just be a prince who really likes backgammon and was visiting the United States for some reason.
But the thing is, even though we don't see it, they are very cordially with one another, Jane rarely is that way to all the rich people, so my guess is they surely shook hands.And after that they went right straight to the backgammon game.And Jane was winning(20.000 dollars actually).When was the time to go, Cho stopped Jane from taking the money from the prince and Jane explained how he cheated to win.Here's the thing, the prince doesn't really look mad or upset, more like impressed, intrigued or uninterested.
So I thought, here is a prince who probably visits USA on a regular basis, to play with his club peers and who sure shook hands with Patrick, he's super rich since he's a prince(even if he's not, he's rich enough to pretend he's a prince) and in the eventuality of him being Red John, he's smart enough to play Patrick and let Patrick win, maybe he wanted to test Patrick to see the exact extent of his skills.
After this short scene, we never see him again, but who says Red John has to appear on a regular basis like CBI Ron or at least a couple of times like Mashburn.I don't get why so many people are in a hurry to not take into consideration these smart and/or rich characters that only appear once like Max Winter or Gabe Nyland.Maybe one of them is Red John.
So to recap:this guy is a prince or pretends to be one, he's rich, possibly smart(if he's Red John), spends time at the backgammon club among other rich people with powerful influence all over the states(Red John's connections) and there's a strong chance he may have shaken hands with Patrick(Lorelei said "it's a surprise you two didn't become lifelong friends when you shook hands", well maybe they don't hate each other, they just met once and there wasn't an opportunity of meeting again).And you can extract these information just from seeing him once in a short scene.
I am not saying he's clearly Red John.But you have to stop look only at the big characters like Mashburn, Minelli and the others and realize that maybe Red John was a one scene character that only was present sometime in the past enough to see him and that's it.That way when he's revealed we'll be like "Ah, he was under our noses the whole time" or "Why didn't I see that?".
Keep in mind that Red John doesn't have to be someone who keeps appearing and who is powerful, rich and smart.They may all be red herrings, which I am pretty sure they are.Look for these little clues that go unnoticeable.I watched that episode 4 or 5 times(I am addicted to the show so I keep rewatching it) and only the last time I saw the prince I realized there's a good chance he is Red John, it would also explain why Red John doesn't kill so often(he's busy and when he wants to blow some steam off, he kills someone or plays with his old backgammon buddy Jane).

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely
Theory #1310 • By Zsir
Show this theory

I have just read a really intersting theory. I think it would be a great solution from Bruno Heller if rj has a twin. But i dont think it. It also could be interesting if rj would be the son of Bret Stiles.
But if we take all the "clues" into consideration i think we can lock out a lot of character. But it would be an other turning if Brett Partridge would be the son of Bret Stiles..what is your opinion?
(Sorry for the mistakes)

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

What if Visualize IS Red John. That is to say, Red John is more than just one man, but rather multiple people in the organization. This would explain the multi-faceted reach of Red John. It would explain the depth of reach he has EVERYWHERE.

Red John isn't just one man, Red John is multiple people IN the Visualize organization.

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

Bret must be red john. in the last episode we find out that one sight is connected with red jonn. A few episodes before that, laurali tells jane that she is suprised he and red john didn't become friwnds the moment they shook hands and that red john is just like jane.when you look back at the episode where we are introduced to one sight Bret asks jane "Do you know who i am" and they shake hands. When you think about it, Bret is very similar to jane in terms of personality.

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely

He'd have the ability to communicate with Patrick within FBI computer system. He's the person who told Lisbon to share Red John files with Patrick initially. 

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely
Theory #1306 • By kircalive
Show this theory

ricl jan

while he's on tv show, red john killed his family. but how? john has to know his address before he watch tv. but he also considere to kill his family Jane is a lier. so it's impossible. also john can't be fast like that.
you remember Jane has been in hospital because oh his pschologic situations. you know why? because he has more than one personality.

truth is: Jane is red john. he kills his family before he showned up tv. he killed womans before; maybe because of their thoughts while they were talking with Jane as a fortuneteller.

thats what i think. but i have to add that Jane doesnt know that he's Red John.

@kircalive

Argue on this theory or rate it.
plausible
unlikely
Follow us on