These are my latest ideas built upon the information provided in Theory 13389. Enjoy.....
I wonder if 'Red John' the identity is the composite of the work of two people, who are *not* working together. One of them is a compulsive killer and enjoys the act of murder and the other one gets off on theatrically staging the murders, including the smiley face and notes, etc. One of them is destructive (murderer) the other creative (face painting, personal notes on nice stationary and such) a 'fearful symmetry'....
Brett with two t's could definitely be the theatrical one and could respond to murder scenes and then add his 'personal touch'. In this way, Partridge 'Creates' the idea of Red John from *someone else's* killings, thus taking the satisfaction and credit away from the original killer.
So in this way, Red John was never a person, but an *idea* created out of two separate person's activities. The older 'RJ1' would have killed or attempted to kill Brett once he figured out that he was the one defileing his killings. Brett's unique knowledge would be knowing what the original crime scene looked like before he staged it, so he could always identify and target the same killer's victims with his Red John theatrics.
Sooooooo..... In the finale, Jane will get to kill RJ1, who actually murdered his family, but he can't kill the potentially already or soon-to-be truly dead Brett who is the person who's theatrics were responsible for Jane going on TV and unknowingly getting his family targeted. RJ1 finally gets 'respect/credit' for his work, but also gets wasted by Jane.
To build on these ideas, the pigeon as a symbol has been attributed to both the Sheriff and Brett by some of us. Maybe that was planned by Bruno to indicate that these two people are the components of Red John!
The Sheriff said he will 'kill anything, with a face and is very low key. Brett couldn't hurt a fly, but likes to play/hang out with dead things. The Sheriff kills then gets out of dodge, Brett likes to respond to crime scenes, have his sick little fun and stick around to create drama. 'Red John' doesn't kill either Lisbon or Jane when he has the chance because he is actually Brett (the non-killer) in a goofy costume.
The Sheriff tells Patrick flat-out that he is not Red John. What he should be saying is that; 'I killed your family and then some asshole painted them in blood and took credit'.
The Sheriff has been trying to discover who's been messing with his kills, hence the Blake Association is hunting 'Red John'. Brett knows that the Blake Association is looking for him and is trying to use Patrick to hunt them down as a defensive move.
