Who is Red John?

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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

After the list has been revealed, I rewatched some episodes from season 1 to take a closer look at the suspects listed.  As Heller said, RJ is someone who appears just in background. In season 1, we meet partridge and mcallister only. These two were really creepy and can be red john but there is one guy that really intrigues me and he appeared in the last episode of season 1. So here is the photo of that guy   http://i.imgur.com/J6RqcLF.jpgb. 

So here is a crazy idea. In that episode, cho and rigsby were following a lead in a shop where the elephant was bought. The shop owner invites them to take a look in the cctv footages for the past 5 months. As they enter the shop, this guy shows out of nowhere and looks at them (cho and rigsby) like he was spying on them or something. He had like a 3 second appearance in that episode. The point is bruno heller could have not shown that guy at all. The background could have been just a plain view and what that guy did was just literally walk through the hall and look what the title is all about "Red John's Footsteps". I know the title could mean the story line of the episode where they found a lead towards red john but it can also be literally just footsteps from him. 

 So i checked his clothes and he is wearing a sunglasses, undershirt, jacket, slacks and a black leather shoes. Come to think of it, if you are a federal agent, it would be easy to change your top but not your pants. The jacket and sunglasses was a disguise so that when we see that guy again , it wouldnt be obvious that he was in season 1. The face and the body build just fits Reede smith. The hairline may make us doubt but i think its easy to fix with some camera tricks as well. Red john could have used some of his affiliates to portray as red john in the episode where the tyger poem was mentioned. 


Anyway i know its really a crazy idea but im gonna have to continue rewatching the episodes as soon as im available and look out still for those 7 suspects.

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Theory #5577 • By Chaudster
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I've given this quite a lot of thought, and what we know about Rj is really only two things1-He's connected to the FBI/CBI
2-He has a lot of accomplices 

Now this is just a wild theory but what if Rj is actually Patrick Jane himself as a split personality, I know what about kidnapping Pj in season 2 and the whole "tiger tiger" thing, as I said Rj has a lot of accomplices he might've managed to make someone pretend he's Rj subconsciously to feed himself that whole pursuit feel of catching Rj

Also throughout season 5 Pj has talked a lot about the powers of the subconscious mind, so it could be his mind is playing tricks on himself, also Rj has insights on things like the list of seven and his childhood memories, things which are very hard if not impossible to get 

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Did anyobdy notice, that in 06x02 Smith acted like an advisor to Bertram?
Bertram: "So, what does Jane know"?
Smith (angry): "It's your job to find out"!
Bertram? He just nodded!!!

This was not a request, this was an order!!!

The Red John case is a CBI case. Bertram is a Director and Smith just an FBI- Agent. They were sitting in Bertrams office...
Does Smith simply have bad manners? I don't think so. Smith is very likely NOT Red John, but if there's really a kind of RJ cult, Smith's rank is ABOVE Bertram's. And that would rule out Bertram as Red John!

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Theory #4951 • By Semolinah
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He had a phone in his hand as he walked by Jane. Partridge is an acolyte. We don't know how long it was between when Lisbon was first attacked and when Jane got to talk to RJ. That may not have been him drawing the smiley face on Lisbon (because that doesn't seem very RJ like, does it. It wouldn't be the first thing you see when you walk in... that being said she's not dead so it may be creep factor).
CBI Ron is always there. He can sneak around and see things without drawing suspicion.

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The Mentalist creator Bruno Heller has been quoted saying he is a big fan of anagrams and other such word puzzles.

Red John  is an anagram for Hjorden

Hjorden or Hjord in Swedish/Danish: herd; a number of beasts gathered.
This could be evidence that Red John is indeed an alias that a number of people are using (possibly explaining the suspicious meeting between Bertram,  McAlliser, and Reed).

The biggest "clue" about Red John (apart from the basic physical parameters we already know: Caucasian, male, mid 30s early 40s, and around 6' tall) is the poem "The Tiger" by William Blake. One of the themes expressed in this poem is Blake's "bewilderment that the God who created the gentle lamb also created the terrifying tiger, he includes Satan as a possible creator" (Michael J. Cummings 2003. Study Guides. Web.). In S6E1, as Lisbon is walking through the house we see the word "DIE" along with a pentagram and "666" (the number of the beast) scrawled on the walls in what appears to be blood.
This could reveal that Red John is truly an embodiment of the evil of men, with each of it's primary members representing a different aspect of evil (7 suspects, 7 deadly sins?).
Another clue...episode 8 of season 6, in which we're supposed to learn of the identity of RJ, is entitled "The Great Red Dragon". This is the name for a series of paintings done by Blake. The subject matter of these paintings is Satan from the book of revelations. In these paintings he is depicted with 7 heads and 7 crowns (7 suspects guys!!).

Now, lets look at the 7 Red John suspects and how they relate to William Blake and his poetry (as this poem/Blake has been a motif throughout the series). I realize some of these may be a stretch, so any comments/help on more concrete relationships to Blake would be awesome!

1. Brett Partridge: A Brace of Partidge is a painting by Blake
2. Bret Stiles: William Rosseti Blake....The name Bret Stiles comes from rearranging some of the letters
3. Gale Bertram: He quotes the Blake poem "Cradle Song", a poem about losing innocence
4. Reede Smith: Reeds of Innocence (poem by Blake)
5. Thomas McAllister: Blake had a friendship with Thomas Paine
6. Ray Haffner: No idea....
7. Bob/Robert Kirkland: No idea....

As you can see there are still areas of this theory that need fleshing out.
One more piece of evidence..."He is mar" could mean "He is many".


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Theory #5421 • By The Artist
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No amount of looking for clues in the show will reveal who red john is.  In order to figure out who RJ is, one must think like Bruno.  Its Bruno's Role to not give away who RJ is, and for us to feel like detectives.  The question is.....If you where Bruno who would you want to be Red John?  Additionally, when the show ends the creators will still want people to purhase the DVD's so its imperative in my opinion that the entire catalog of the mentalist tells a tale, just like william blakes poem.  I believe when we get to the end of the show, the entire work will reflect an entire idea, a philosophy.  I think something much more important will be revealed about Patrick and his journey of revenge.  Like in life, its never about the destination its about the journey.  It would be so cool, if PJ is actually in a mental asylum telling his story and a new series starts from there.

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I think it is Ray Haffner.  Here are my reasons why:
First, he is a good whistler and so is Red John.
Second, he is a member of Visualize and Red John is a member of Visualize.
Third, Ray Haffner has feelings for Lisbon and Red John may have feelings for Lisbon too.  Otherwise, Red John would have killed her.
Fourth, remember Lisbon's dream in season 6 episode 2?  Well, he was in it.  In fact, he was the last person in it.  He did hit Teresa Lisbon in the dream.
Fifth, Red John is middle aged and so is Ray Haffner.
Sixth, Red John is not strong but not weak either.  Ray Haffner was lifting medium sized weights in the second episode of the sixth season.  Therefore, he is about average strength.
Seventh and final reason, he did shake hands with Jane and so did Red John probably.
Now, let me give reasons to eliminate the other suspects:
First, Reede Smith is a little too fat and too strong.  Red John is not fat nor strong.  However, Reede Smith could be an accomplice though.  
Second, Bret Stiles is too old for Red John but he could be the father of Red John.
Third, Gale Bertram is bald.  Red John is not bald.  However, he could be an accomplice though.
Fourth, Sheriff McAllister is a little too old for Red John.
Fifth, Brett Partridge is probably dead.  In fact, the actor who plays Brett Partridge says that his character is dead.  However, he does have the voice, creepiness and the intelligence of Red John.  He also has the height description of Red John and is middle age like Red John.  He also did say "Tiger, Tiger" to Lisbon and Red John has said "Tiger Tiger" to Patrick Jane.  If Brett Partridge managed to fake his death, I might change my guess back to Brett Partridge.  But I doubt it.
Sixth and final reason, Bob Kirkland talked to one of Red John's accomplices.  The accomplice does not recognize Kirkland.  Furthermore, he did not leave a smiley face after killing the accomplice.

The only top two suspects on my list are Ray Haffner and Brett Partridge.  The other suspects I could eliminate.  I am leaning towards Haffner now but I am not ready to eliminate Partridge yet.

So that is my theory.  Please rate this theory.  I would appreciate it.


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