List of “Clues”/Mentions;  Red as St. Nick/Christmas 

The basics: 
- Raymond Red Reddington disappears on Christmas Eve
- He abandons a RED car, full of Christmas gifts
- Like a Christmas sleigh
- He disappears into the snow
- He turns up again 20+ years later at the Post Office (Where children's Santa letters go)
- He brings a Blacklist (of "bad" or naughty people) 

The icon:
St. Nicholas icon prominently displayed in the Flat and in the shipping container
Checkerboard pattern on the robe that the Saint is wearing in the icon. Other icons of St. Nicholas show a similar checkered pattern cloak.
(Photo in Post #27)

 Names
Nick's pizza
Dom’s name - short for Dominic? 

All of the characters who have names that being with K/C. (Kris Kringle, Claus)
I won’t list them all out, you know who they are! *

*Actually I thought about this some more and added them to the bottom of the post.  Interesting that the significant people in Liz's life or central to the mythology of the show have names or aliases that begin with K or C, as do what I'm going to call "significant" Blacklisters - those that are involved in the mythology/back story of Red

But: “Nik” Korpal 

"Sam" backwards:  "Mas" as in Christmas (ok a stretch!!)

Niko - who betrayed Red
Little Nicos
Dr. Niklaus Vogel - infected his victims with the Cullen virus in Berlin, 1.21

"Joseph"-ine

Christmas/St. Nik episode references 

Nick’s pizza - yeah I know the show writers says its a reference to Nick a real person but I still think its wild that Red’s calling name is Nick with the green and red that ring on cellphones 

Mombasa Cartel, the killer/hunter was in a bathtub full of bubbles. He covered the lower part of his face with suds and teased his mom, saying, "Ho Ho Ho." 

 !.17, "Ivan".Red admires Kaplan's Vicuna coat at the beginning.  He asks how he can get one.  Kaplan replies:"Put it on your Christmas list, and if you are good......" 

1.21, Berlin Conclusion, Fitch to Red about (fake) Berlin: "Makes Putin look like a Christmas elf."

4.07: When Samar meets the Coroner in the restaurant, one of the framed pictures in the next booth is about Christmas.  I can't read the second word, but it might be "musical"….not sure.  If so that would be cool, combining Christmas and music...

 4.07: ed calls himself  "the ghost of Christmas past…"
Interesting as Emma is referred to by one of the writers as the ghost of Christmas future.  So who is the ghost of Christmas present?   

The Stewmaker, when the FBI loses Lorca, Liz Red says to Donald: I'd say my meeting with Lorca might be the equivalent of you falling on your ass and landing in a pile of Christmas. 

3.02 - Marvin Gerard - Red speaks to Liz about Polaris, the North Star - near to the North Pole and also known as the norther pole star

3,[ ] - Alisair Pitt - the scene with Red and Josephine in the restaurant with the Christmas tree behind them and the three votive candles on the table, and the name, "Joseph"ine. (see post #67 below)

Episode in Season 4, record shop:  Liz mentions that she’ll put it on her “Christmas list” 

Episode in Season 4, Red asks if the FBI has a Christmas party

 Episode in Season 4, Red is living in the church, comments that he sleeps like a “babe in a manger” 

4.22  Kaplan Conclusion:  Christmas decorations in the attic at Tansy Farms.

5.09 - Ruin, Liz drops off the wounded WITSE guy at the hospital entrance, "like a Christmas gift"

Some notes about St Nicholas: St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, sailors and those who have been suffered an injustice.  I did some more reading and found out that St. Nicholas has several miracles attributed to him, among which are saving from death a number of children, ensuring safe passage for a ship caught in a violent storm, and bringing back a sailor who had died on that ship during that storm.  Then of course the tie-ins to Christmas, both the FBI and Red version of the Christmas Eve story...... 

Other thoughts: 
Colleen’s Krampus post #15
Comics #22   

*Significant Names with C/K:

Blacklisters
Leonard Caul
Milos Kirchhoff. (Berlin)
Peter Kotsiopulos (The Director)
Tom Connolly
Karakurt
Stanley Cornish (Stewmaker)
Linus Creel
Vanessa Cruz 

 Katerina, Kaplan (Kathryn),Carla , Emma Knightly  
Tom Keen, Nik Korpal, Cooper, Alexander Kirk/Constantin

 Interestingly, Sam doesn’t fit into the C or K pattern (if there is one!)


EDITED:  Oct 24 to add names at bottom

Last edited by lara1 (1/11/2018 8:21 pm)

Colleen - no worries!  I am going to keep adding to it as I remember other things.  Like today I remembered karakurt.  I'll let you all know when I add a whole bunch of new content....

That’s an interesting thought, Laocoon. #1. According to my research on the Naval Academy they have foreign students that go through the program. I supposed that they returned to their home countries after they graduated. So your point is quite valid.

I was just rereading and enjoying all the Blacklist Christmas/St. Nick connections today.  One name you left out was Nico, Red's partner in Prague. Nico is a nickname for Nicholas. There's also Red's penchant for giving gifts. He gave Liz a music box and an apartment, tried to give Agnes a trust fund and succeeded in giving her a cuckoo clock. He was always gifting Josephine with the little glass animals. I'll leave you with my favorite BL Christmas image.

Last edited by Tuxie400 (12/24/2017 11:39 am)

Yes, there have been two Nicos. The one I recall the most was the one who betrayed him. I think there was one last season too, though I don't remember in what capacity.

Eastcoast - Ah yes, Little Niko, who was actually quite large. LOL

One of the strangest fan theories out there is that Red had the bones of St. Nicholas in the suitcase. It might be a tongue-in-cheek theory, but the originator notes that Tansi is an anagram for Saint and suggests the K on the tree stands for Kris Kringle. The person also posts the link to this article about the bones of St. Nick.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/st-nicholas-bones

Tuxie400 - that's interesting.  I will have a look.  Actually, I did at one point wonder whether the "K" is another "K" reference - like the many I noted, many blacklisters and associates with names starting with K or C, including some of the big ones.  But in my mind I linked it to something with Red, because of the Christmas links I've made, but not specifically to Christmas.  The K could be anything.  Though why Kaplan would caress it is another matter......

Needless to say though, with my Red as St Nick theories, I am fascinated of course and will read it.
Although somehow I doubt its St. Nick.  Because not sure how that would give Liz a "truth".  But maybe the "K" is the initial of whomever (other than Katarina) is buried there.

The other thought that occurs to me, thinking about Tansi and back to my Christmas theory post, is St. Nick is the patron saint of children.   Which brings us back, perhaps, to the theory that there is a child's bones in the suitcase.   But I don't know, that may be too complicated a way to get to the answer.  LOL

Last edited by lara1 (1/22/2018 12:38 pm)

I did question back when Garvey was talking to Tom about the number of people who would want the bones and the things they would do to get them if the bones specifically were important in some way.  But I can’t see them being St. Nick.  He isn’t going to be showing up in CODIS. Lol.  But we were told in 4.22 through Kaplan and Dembe that these bones are heavily linked to KR and something Red did to her.  They’ve never mentioned KR in relation to them again up to this point, which I think is because they want to surprise people who may have forgotten the comments from the end of season 4.  Plus it has to be something that is going to hurt Liz and Red’s relationship.  That was Kaplan’s intention.

But the bones could still be special to the criminal world somehow.

Well, I did say I thought the theory was likely tongue-in-cheek. But there's nothing to say that some descendant of Saint Nicholas isn't in CODIS. Maybe Katarina was traveling around the world to try to recover all the pieces of St. Nick's body. There was supposed to be a bone in Canada.