It's really sad that Red John AKA Bertram ( just saying) uses everyone and anyone, doesn't care about anyone EXCEPT JANE. It's like a twisted love story.... he even exposes himself (keep it clean) to Jane because he is desperate for a relationship with him...friendship. awwwwww blesss.

No theory, just a question... Does anyone know where the name Red John even comes from? Maybe i forgot it or is there simply no explanation given troughout the show?

The extended promo for The Great Red Dragon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZNHArXK514

For those of you who think Red John is one of the remaining 5:
Rigsby says "Red John brought in the bomb to kill Jane and the other suspects"
If any of those 5 were Red John, why would he plant a bomb in a room that he was going to be in, just to kill himself, Jane, and the other suspects?
Answer: they wouldn't. There would be no point for Red John, this extremely prideful, narcissistic, showman of a serial killer, to plant a bomb to kill himself and his nemesis, along with a few others. Really, if you were Red John, would you waste 20 years of killing people just to die in an explosion with no one knowing that you were actually Red John? No, you wouldn't. You would make sure that, if you were going to die, everybody would know who you were so you would leave a lasting effect on them.
And if it is true that Red John is on the list of 7, then we can eliminate the 5 ones that are definitively alive because of the explosion. That leaves Bob Kirkland and Brett Partridge. Bob Kirkland is definitely dead, we saw him get shot in the back 7 times.
That just leaves Partridge. 
I know that there are still people out there that won't even attempt to think that Partridge could be alive, but hear me out.
If you were a forensic investigator, do you really think you would have a tough time faking your own death? Partridge, being an experienced forensics guy, would know how to make a crime scene look convincing. Partridge's "death" can sort of be connected with the Reaper from Criminal Minds (another CBS show). The Reaper was a serial killer that made it look like he was innocent by meticulously cutting himself in the manner that the Reaper cut up his victims, but he cut himself in such a way that he knew he would not die, but it would make it look as if he was on the brink of death. 
Who's to say Partridge couldn't do the same thing?
And at this point, we can make a very educated guess that Oscar Cordiero, the EMT that was first on the scene at both Partridge's "death" and the PI's death, is definitely an accomplice of Red John.
Does anybody else find it strange that Lisbon called for backup to immediately head to 5570 West Huron before she left the CBI, but before the backup arrived, so much time had passed that Lisbon was already there, she was lured into the house by a suspicious noise, searched the house, saw Partridge "die", was knocked out by Red John + had a smiley face painted on her, and Red John also had time to make a call to Patrick + leave before anyone arrived on scene?
Enter Oscar Cordiero, the EMT that has miraculously been the first on scene at the past two RJ crime scenes.
First, he arrived at the scene with Lisbon to help Partridge escape, thus making sure that nobody else saw that Partridge was really alive. Then, he shows up to the scene of the PI's murder to watch Jane's reaction to the PI's tattoo clue, and report this reaction to Partridge, thus reassuring Partridge that Patrick is fully off his tracks.
Cordiero is definitely not a character that coincidentally happened to arrive at both of those crime scenes first. He was there first for a reason.

And honestly, I feel as though nobody could play the character of Red John better than Partridge, especially if what we've seen in the early TV Guide article is true. None of the other suspects on the list of 7 seem to have any heavily driven desire to befriend Patrick (except maybe McAllister, but he actually seems to have a desire to help Patrick catch RJ). We've seen in all of Partridge's encounters with Patrick (with the exception of the scene in the desert) that he seems to have some sort of underlying desire to be friends with Patrick, but Patrick always shuts Partridge down cruelly. This could explain why (if it's true) Red John intentionally exposes himself to Patrick in the final episode. Partridge has seen that his attempts of befriending Patrick in the past have not worked, so he figures (since he's apparently so hellbent on having a relationship with Patrick) if all else fails (which it has), then the last resort method of possibly becoming Patrick's friend is to openly reveal himself, showing a gesture of willingness to become friends. Of course, this won't work, and Jane will end up killing Red John anyways.
And what's up with the rest of the promo for the next episode? It says that the truth (as to who survived the explosion) will uncover an even bigger lie. First of all, how would who survives the blast uncover the Tiger Tiger organization? And secondly, how exactly is the Tiger Tiger organization a lie? A corrupt organization of law enforcement officials? Yes. But how is it a lie?
Some things to ponder as we anxiously await the delayed episodes (good going, CBS).

Guys i'm not psychic but i dreamed an idea after watching the last episode of The Mentalist...I think Red John is Kristina Frye because she is the only one who appeared on The Mentalist and was smarter than Jane.Do you remember when she said that Jane's daughter was sleeping when she was killed by Red John.We all know psychics don't exist so how can she know the fact that his daughter was sleeping.


Another thing is...The best way to be ruled out as a suspect for Red John is to be killed or in her instance to be kidnapped by Red John by the way her body was never found.


And another thing is i think Rosalind Harker is maybe her sister.I think she is lying about Red John every thing she described was a lie.

I thinks the list of seven is a lie to put us off the path of finding out who Red John really is.Frye helped a lot of people with her "psychic powers".A lot of them i think were powerful and she could have easily known about the tyger tyger group and frame them.

One time i think she even defended Red John and justified his doings.

The last thing is that killing duos like red john started are most of the time made up by a male and female killer something like Bonny and Clyde.I think this is the answer why Red John first sidekick was a male cop.

PS. To all who belive in the list of seven....Its defintely fake because they all look like they could be Red John and if you watched crime movies or series always the guys who didi it is the one you least expected.BERTRAM IS REPORTING TO SOMEONE AND HE IS FOLLOWING ORDERS RED JOHN DOESNT. SMITH ALSO FOLLOWS ORDERS AND HE IS TO FAT.THE SHERIFF IS TO LIKEBALE AND HE ALMOST SWORE THAT HE ISN'T RED JOHN RED JOHN IS PROUD OF HIS WORK AND HE RED JOHN WOULD NEVER DO THAT BECAUSE HE IS PROUD OF HIS WORK.STILES ALREADY HAS A CULT AND RED JOHN ALSO HAS A CULT AND HE IS DYING SO IF HE IS RED JOHN JUSTICE WONT BE SERVED CAUSE HE WOULD HAVE DIED FROM NATURAL CAUSE ANYWAY.HAFFNER ADMITS THAT HE IS DUMBER THAN JANE ANOTHER THING A PERSON THAT IS FOOL OF HIMSELF WONT DO AND WHO IS OFFENDED BY SOMEONE WHO TALKS BADLY ABOUT HIM ON TV.AND THE ONE THAT WAS MOST LIKELY TO BE RED JOHN THAT IS BRETT PARTRIDGE IS DEAD IF HE ISN'T THAT WOULD OFFEND THE PICTURE OF A GENIOUS THAT WE THINK PATRICK JANE IS!!!!


PPS. WE ALL KNOW RED JOHN IS SMART SO A SMART KILLER WOULD CONFIRM HIS LIST OF SUSPECTS ONLY IF HE KNEW HE WASN'T ON THE LIST OF SUSPECTS OTHERWISE IF HE REALLY WAS HE WOULD HAVE KILLED PATRICK JANE.