Who is Red John?

Theories of sd1 (3)

Am I the only one that noticed there's a leak in the CBI?

On two separate occasions in episode 6x7, that Sac PD guy mentioned that his "informant/source inside CBI" provided details asto 1) Rigsby and van Pelt en route to the doctor's office where Smith was being held, and 2) that CBI officers were en route to pick up Smith in the alley. We know the leak isn't Bertram, since he told Bertram about Smith in the alley, so it's gotta be someone we don't expect. I'm guessing that his informant is the guy/gal who's been feeding information to Red John since the beginning. It doesn't have to be a Blake Association member, but Lisbon, van Pelt, and CBI Ron come to mind.

We learned from Smith last night that the Blake Association helps you when you need it most, and a payback of services is offered in return. I recall a couple weeks back the Sac PD guy brought the Kirkland forensics report to Rigsby, and before he left said, "Hey, maybe someday you can do something for me." I'm not pointing any fingers at Rigsby cause I think he's clean, but that sure sounds like the offerings of the Blake Association to me. I don't know why I didn't pick up on it earlier. Such a subtle hint. I wonder how many other people inside CBI have been coerced in the same manner...

I saw the promo and my money is still on Haffner. As many have pointed out, CBS is not going to show the actual Red John in any portion of any promo. Like Jane has said before, we (as viewers) are missing something. Did Jane shoot McAllister and that's why he has the wound in the promo? Is Bertram actually Red John's right hand man? Is Michael Kirkland actually Red John, who turned to Visualize for support and became a different person?

All I ask for is an explaination and a good twist that makes sense and ties up the loose ends. Too many unanswered questions right now.

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I've long suspected Haffner since the beginning, and many clues people here have pointed out, like him being the only suspect to call Teresa by her first name (a la RJ), or the fact that he uses his left hand like RJ, only add fuel to the fire.

One interesting thing I noticed when I rewatched the last episode Fire and Brimstone occured during the tattoo reveal scene. I noticed that when Haffner pulls down his shirt to expose his left shoulder, he does something inadvertently and/or sunbconsciously. The camera pans to him, and he doesn't just expose his shoulder like the other suspects. And he just doesn't point it out. He actually shows his shoulder, then runs his fingers in a horizontal direction, from the back of his body towards his front, where the tattoo would have been. You'll also notice that this direction corresponds to the decreasing sizes of the three dots.  It's almost like saying "see, I don't have it." He did this without seeing if anyone else had the tattoo, or even knowing what it looked like.

This is something that RJ could easily have covered, if he does in fact have it at all.

Another possible scenario is that RJ has a different tattoo at the same location as the Tyger, Tyger people, and this tattoo means that he is the boss/leader of the organization.

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Everyone ages. Soft skin goes loose and rough. Baldness occurs later in life if you have the gene. Pounds are added as life increases. All these can be factors that have altred the view of Red John in our eyes. It's perfectly natural to age over a ten year time span of mass killings. I don't care how good you are, if the stress doesn't get to you right away, it will show in your body later in life.

That being said, is it possible we are all looking at this from the face value, present time frame? What if the descriptions we've been given of Red John by his discriples are those that occured years back and not now? We have no way of knowing if Red John dressed up or altered his appearance for Rosalind Harker...after all, she is blind. She wouldn't know the difference. Occam's Razor I feel applies here. The simplest explanation is likely the most correct. We are basing our facts about Red John of possible red herrings, faulty memories, inreliable witnesses or accomplices, and not the simplest explanation. What if Red John is none of these? What if he dressed differently when he saved PJ at the end of Season 2 than when he would videotape/spy on CBI and send them footage, or for Rosalind Harker?  Do I have the answer? No. I'm just trying to figure it out like all of you and discern the red herrings from clues.

Some things I think we should think about, since I haven't seen them brought up in many theories lately.

1) What about the last episode of season 5, where Red John said he'd be killing again, often, until he catches PJ or vice versa. Where are all these killings? We have no way of knowing if RJ actually killed Kira, he didn't slash her like usual victims. Lisbon was saved when Patridge was killed. I expected more classic RJ murders. Where are they?

2) How the hell did RJ read PJ's mind about the childhood memory? This still has not been touched on. At all.

3) RJ is getting sloppy. Too sloppy for someone who knows he's being hunted. I would have thought he'd be more careful since any slipup is a clue for PJ. And we know how pissed RJ was when he found out PJ learned of their handshake. And that was one clue after ten years.

One last thing. Christopher Nolan vehemently denied any rumors or speculations about Ra's al Gul's daughter being Talia in the Dark Knight Rises. What happened there? I'm not prescribing to the Patridge-not-dead theory, or the twin theory of the Kirklands, or the RJ-is-not-on-the-list theory...I'm just saying that anything goes. And Heller will intentionally mislead us the way RJ or PJ does. Was Bertram not bald at some time? Did Stiles look substantially younger 10 years back?

I'm hoping that the reveal will not be a let-down and all our questions are answered. A nice, clean closure a la JK Rowling's final Potter book would be excellent.


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