Red John - Character Profile

Character Profile

The number of people who have met "Red John" is limited. Although Patrick Jane learns that he has met Red John and shaken his hand at some point, Jane still does not yet know Red John's true identity, although he has narrowed his list of suspects to seven.

• Red John is male. This can be determined from reports of Rosalind Harker (Alicia Witt), a blind woman and former lover of Red John who first appears in the episode "Red John's Footsteps". Harker's description, if it is to be believed, further states that he is "just under six feet tall, with short, straight hair, not muscular but not soft, with strong hands". Her testimony may be considered somewhat suspect as she seems quite fond of him, regardless of what the CBI agents tell her, and is one of the few if any people to be around him who is still alive.

• He has gone by the alias "Roy Tagliaferro," the name by which Harker knows him. This name may be related to his work with iron, as Virgil Minelli first realizes "Tagliaferro" means "cut iron" or "cutting iron" ("taglio" = "cutting" and "ferro" = "iron") in Italian. He has also used the pseudonym "DR. JOE N.H." (an anagram of Red John) or "Doctor Joe in New Hampshire" when accessing the CBI secure network.

• He appears to be white, based on the appearance of his bare hands (drinking tea in the season 1 episode "Red John's Footsteps"), which seem to be those of a Caucasian male.

• He is quite literate. Familiar with the poetry of William Blake, Red John quoted a line from the poem The Tyger to Jane at the end of season 2. This same line was spoken by another Red John associate, Todd Johnson, directly to Jane shortly before Johnson died after being burned alive by FBI agent/Red John operative Craig O'Laughlin.

• He works occasionally with others. His first known accomplice was named Orville Tanner, though Tanner died in prison. Tanner's son, Dumar, appears in the episode "Red John's Footsteps" as another friend of Red John. Other accomplices of Red John have been revealed as the series has progressed, including some inside the CBI itself (Sam Bosco's secretary Rebecca in the episode "The Scarlett Letter"), others outside the CBI who admire him and perform their own murders, such as Todd Johnson (who appears in the episode "Red Moon"), some whose inside information likely provided Red John with detailed data on Jane and his CBI team (such as Craig O'Laughlin who is revealed to be a Red John operative in "Strawberries and Cream Part 2"), and others who have been "sent" to communicate with Jane (such as Lorelei Martins in "The Crimson Hat"). Each "disciple", as Jane calls them ("Red John doesn't have friends. He has tools."), exhibits fierce and complete loyalty to Red John, and each is disposed of, often by his/her own hand, after serving his or her limited, albeit important, function.

• He either has extensive knowledge of computers, or employs someone with such knowledge to assist him, as he has on several occasions accessed (either through hacking or the assistance of an insider) what Agent Grace Van Pelt refers to as the "CBI secure network" (the first time this occurred was in the season 1 episode "Red John's Friends").

• In his criminal history, Red John's initial method of killing was with a handheld linoleum cutter. A "textbook Red John" murder (according to Agent Kimball Cho in the first season pilot), consisted, at that time, of the use of a stun gun to subdue the victim, followed by "binding with tight black plastic ligatures, frenzied cutting and stabbing assault of the torso, and subsequent abuse of the viscera". If his victim is sleeping, Red John is believed to awaken him or her to see and revel in the terror of his victim. This was Red John's early style of murder, but in subsequent seasons he has killed by other means, including poison and, in at least one instance, a handgun.