He has the ability to influence people and people to commit the crimes. Series 4, Episode 16 (His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts) gave lots of clues, particularly the name. Bret talks about seeking happiness and blowing "red smoke" to release anger. He mentions information at the end of the episode that only the FBI would know and has an obvious need to compete with Jane in mind games.
An easy pick for Red John.
I think cbi RON is red john because :-
(1) Ron is very similar to red john.Like R ed -jh ON.
(2) He's always there ..behind every one doesn't speak.As bruno heller said we've already seen red john many times .
(3)Red john knows everything that happens in the cbi office. so maybe he works in the cbi office . And RJ has many times contacted jane in the cbi office but still he untraceable . AND nobody can hack into cbi servers from outside.
(4) look carefully (4x13) when RED john meets rosalind harker. he's sitting like jane and the way he's holding the tea cup ...just look at his hand he's wearing a RING , it's blurry but ron is also wearing same kind of ring.
red john is not a person, it is an organization. either that or the mentalist is sf serie.Red john has super human abilities if he is just one person. he couldn't know that much, or do that much just by himself.And you can't kill an organization by killing a person.
They got the wording wrong. Red John is the Germanic Word 'Reidh Jan' meaning 'to prepare (as in for a Journey)' That would imply a preparatory role for the dead - A roll filled by an Undertaker/Mortician or an angel of god/mercy.
Grace seems to be this sweet, innocent young women, with some religious beliefs. It's always the least likely that is the most evil and can get the closest to the protagonist. I wouldn't say that she actually commits all the murders or makes all the appearances as RJ but through manipulation and intelligent strategies she controls the RJ killings. With her beauty and insane influence she probably got the killer of the couple making the insane movie to say he was Red John, but really it was her pulling all the strings. Her hair is red and since she probably considers her victoms as whores, she is therefore their "JOHN". She would naturally get as close to Jane as possible since he is her only real competition in game of not getting caught but pushing the envelope as they would say.
Some people are saying that RJ could be his father, but why? I mean, patrick's father is (was?) a quack, why would he be killing people? and 'he knows patrick that well so he knows what he's going to do' but why would he wanna hurt him? plus, RJ killed Jane's wife and child after Jane insulted RJ on tv, so if Jane never said something about RJ, RJ whouldn't have killed his family. I think it would be a total coincidense if RJ is Alex Jane.
How about Jane's Father Alex Jane (season 2 episode 10)... Season 2 episode 8 Rebecca is telling Jane "You very much like him you know. The way you look at people and see right through them, that is just spooky" I think Jane have to know person and and vice versa...only one to know Jane so good is his father...