Randall Garner

Randall Garner (AKA, "The Fisher King") is a prolific serial killer with an epic and dramatic style.

Season One
Following the arrival of a package containing a severed head, The Fisher King begins sending cryptographic messages to the BAU. The messages contain clues to an epic mystery that the team must solve in order to find the bodies of The Fisher King's victims.

The first clue is a phone call to Hotch: "Please disregard the first two deaths, they were unrepentant men. The girl is the one who is important. The youngest holds the key. You must help him save her."

The second clue is written on the wall over the decapitated body of Marty Harris: "Save Her". The clue seems to be referring to Elle Greenaway, in whose room the body's blood trail leads.

The third clue(s) are in the form of instant messages to Garcia while she is playing an MOORPG on the BAU's internet connection: "All work no play."

The fourth clue arrives addressed to JJ and contains a pale butterfly native to Britian. JJ had collected butterflies as a child. The message reads: "She has been searched for but never been found."

The fifth clue is delivered to Reid while visiting his mother. It is a skeleton key, with a message: "You must save her, Dr. Reid. Call Gideon, he knows."

The sixth clue is found at the home of Frank Giles, who is impaled to his bed with a sword. A message on the wall reads: "Here thy quest doth begin."

Derek Morgan breaks through the wall and finds a locked music box. The skeleton key that Reid recieved fits the lock. Inside, there is a DVD entitled "Thy Quest".

The DVD show The Fisher King sitting in the darkness, where he reveals the episode's final clue: To solve the case, the team would need "book that inspired many an adventure like mine."

It is then discovered that a lock of hair that JJ had analyzed belonged to a missing woman named Rebecca Bryant (see Frank). Reid then surmises that the code numbers written on the note with Rebecca's hair refer to a specific spot within a specific book. Page #, paragraph #, line #, etc.

Back at home, Elle lays down on her couch after being sent home to rest. Garner appears (still unknown at the time), and fires two rounds.

Season Two
The next season's premiere finds Rebecca Bryant chained up in a dank cellar. Elle is then shown in her apartment with two gunshot wounds. The paramedics are working on her when the next clue is spotted on the wall: "RULES" is written in Elle's blood.

Back at the office, Reid tries to compile a list of possible book titles, and concludes it would be impossible because there just are too many books. Then he remembers one of the clues the unsub left them was a baseball card with a year on it. He takes it from the table and goes to Gideon. It's a baseball card from Nelly Fox from the White Sox. The card should be a 1959 card because that would have meaning to Gideon, but it's a 1963 card. Apparently, this is something the unsub did deliberately. The rest of the items considered to be clues were very carefully sought out. They realize the book they are seeking was published in 1963.

Garcia, being enraged that she was out-hacked by the Fisher King, writes a program to help identify him. She comes back with a name: Sir Kneighf. It appears nonsensical, or maybe an anagram.

Reid then asks Garcia to type "never would it be night, but always clear day to any man's sight" into a search engine, which are the poem lines from the music box. She gets one hit. It's a poem called "The Parliament of Fowls" by Geoffrey Chaucer, and is considered to be the first Valentine poem. Reid remembers his mother used to read that poem to him.

Reid goes back to the main room where the cipher is written out and he reviews all the clues again. Medieval, British, Chaucer, 1963, butterfly. Chaucer was Middle English, and the word "fowls" would have been spelled with an E in Middle English, or "fowles." So he has Garcia search for John Fowles. His book, The Collector, was published in the United Kingdom in 1963. When Garcia's computer reveals the cover of the book, they know it is the right one. It depicts a picture of a butterfly, a key, and a strand of hair - the clues the unsub had given to them. The other clues, a baseball card, a music box. point to the title : "The Collector."

Reid realizes the Sir Kneighf is an anagram of Fisher King, and the Fisher King is at the end of all grail quests.

Garcia is finished writing down the deciphered text on a big white board, which reads:
 * The path to the end
 * Began at his start
 * To find her first calm
 * Her long broken heart
 * She sits in a window
 * With secrets from her knight
 * Is it adventure that keeps
 * Him out of her sight

Reid realizes now that all the clues point to his mother. "Always day; never night."

Known Victims

 * Marty Harris
 * Frank Giles

Appearances

 * Season One
 * The Fisher King, part 1
 * Season Two
 * The Fisher King, part 2