Spencer Hastings

Spencer Hastings is one of the main characters in both the Pretty Little Liars series and books. She is portrayed by Troian Bellisario.

Biography
Spencer Hastings is an extremely wealthy, smart, and competitive girl. She is running for valedictorian, on the field hockey team, and plays tennis at a Country Club. She lives with her father, mother, and "perfect" older sister, Melissa. Spencer is jealous of Melissa for having everything she wanted, and they have a huge rivalry. Spencer was best friends with Alison DiLaurentis, and was the closest to Alison in their group although they sometimes had conflicts. She was the only one who could ever stand up to Alison, and they got in huge fights but always made up. Alison told Spencer she had a secret boyfriend, but wouldn't say who. At the sleepover the night before she disappeared, Spencer got up because she heard Alison scream. One year later, Spencer's newly-engaged and condescending sister, Melissa, moves into the guest house which Spencer had been fixing up for herself. Spencer finds herself increasingly attracted to her sister's fiancé, Wren Kim. But "A", sends a text saying "If you kiss, I tell. -A." Spencer and Wren do kiss and are caught by Melissa, who insists that Wren move out. Spencer feels bad and apologizes and tries to get Melissa her back together with her ex-boyfriend, Ian Thomas. Spencer starts dating a worker at the country club to which her family belongs, Alex Santiago. She finds out her mother has breast cancer, and keeps it a secret from her friends.

Spencer, Aria, and Emily visit Hanna in the hospital after she is hit by "A". She says Noel (Aria's former boyfriend) is "A". Spencer believes Hanna, and is shocked when she finds out Melissa eloped with Ian. She gets in an argument with her boyfriend, Alex, because he turned down the opportunity to be part of a tennis clinic in Sweden. The two go to Hanna's surprise "Welcome Back!" party where Alex gets an email confirmation that his application for the tennis clinic has been received. Since he only told Spencer about it, Alex leaves, furious because he thinks Spencer went behind his back. After he leaves, Spencer gets a text saying, ''"Point! Set! Match! -A." ''

Spencer becomes suspicious of Ian when she learns that he was at Hiltonhead the same weekend Alison was right before she was killed. When "A" sends Spencer a video that shows that Ian was with Ali at the kissing rock the night she died, Spencer's suspicions are confirmed. However, the video was removed from Spencer's laptop before they could bring it to the police after it was stolen temporarily. She later learns that Melissa is pregnant with Ian's child. Spencer, Aria, Emily and Hanna discover a golf trophy with Ian's name on it covered in blood, which they assume he used on Alison. They bring the trophy to the police but the police discover rat's blood on the trophy. The police believe this was a hoax performed by the girls with Spencer as their ring leader. This, and her continued instance on blaming Ian for Alison's death, make Spencer a person of interest in the murder. The police search her room and her neighbor, Officer Garrett Reynolds, follows Spencer.

Spencer begins to spend time with Toby Cavanaugh at first to seek out information but they soon bond over their shared feelings of persecution. Despite the disapproval of her mother and sister, their relationship grows and she is in a serious relationship with him by the end of the first season.

In "Monsters in the End", Emily learns that Alison had left her a key to discover videos that had been taken of all of the young girls who live on their street, which had been taken over the course of years. Spencer believes Ian was the one taking the videos and that Alison's discovering them was the motive for killing her.

In "For Whom the Bell Tolls", the four girls plan to trap Ian by anonymously blackmailing him with the videos. They plan to turn him into the police when he shows up with the agreed upon sum, thereby confirming his guilt. However, another man is sent in Ian's place to drop off the money and pick up the videos. At the same time, Ian corners Spencer in a church. He plans to kill her and make it look like a suicide. Before he is able to hurt Spencer a figure dressed in black pushes him off the bell tower, apparently killing him. Emily, Aria, and Hanna meet Spencer in the church and see what appears to be Ian's dead body. Minutes later, as they are exiting the church, the police inform them that the body is missing. As the first season ends, the four girls, especially Spencer, look guilty for another hoax.

Season 2
In It's Alive, Spencer's family does not believe her claim that Ian is dead. They call Spencer’s accusations an “obsession to pin Alison’s death on Ian.” The girls are completely defensive, but their parents insist on them seeking therapy.

In addition, Spencer's parents disapprove of her budding relationship with Toby; they think his reputation associated with her will only makes hers worse. So, Spencer is barred from hanging with her friends and her boyfriend.

As well, Spencer's relationship with Melissa is at another all-time low, being told that Melissa doesn't want Spencer anywhere near her future baby. Ironically, later in It's Alive, she seems to be the only Hastings family member willing to entertain Spencer's version of things in what befell Ian. After that, when it seems that Ian is alive and Melissa is abetting him, Spencer feels abandoned by her sister, and her sister is aloof as usual.

Then, Spencer pawns her sister's ring after Melissa misplaces it, and Spencer finds it. She hopes to make the barter temporary, but "A" sees to it that Spencer never gets it back.

At the end of Blind Dates "A" puts Ian's cellphone into Spencer's backpack. A calls the phone in the "The Devil You Know" when she was with her sister causing Melissa to believe Spencer was pretending to be Ian while he was dead. This deteriorates the two sisters relationship even further. In "Never Letting Go", Melissa goes a needed vacation. Her father mentions it to Spencer that she could of gone as well which probably means Melissa didn't tell her parents about what happened between the two of them.

In the same episode Spencer finds her father arguing with Jessica DiLaurentis on several occasions. On the phone and at the fashion show. When he is confronted about it he makes up lies or just tells her to stay away from Jason DiLaurentis.

Spencer's father then seems to believe the broken field hockey stick Toby found was planted by Spencer in Surface Tension. Spencer then witnesses her dad burn the piece of possible evidence after she tries to stop him from throwing it in the fire place, but fails.

Relationships
Ian Thomas: They kissed and briefly dated.
 * Started: Before "Pilot"
 * Ended: Before "Pilot"
 * Reason: Alison threatened to tell Melissa

Wren Kim
 * Started: "The Jenna Thing"
 * Ended: "Can You Hear Me Now?"
 * Reason: Spencer told him nothing could happen between them because of her sister

Alexander &quot;Alex&quot; Santiago
 * Started:"There's No Place Like Homecoming"
 * Ended: "Salt Meets Wound"


 * Reason:They broke up because of "A". "A" posed as Alex and accepted him into a tennis clinic that Alex only told Spencer about.PLL107-01117.jpg

Toby Cavanaugh: Are dating.
 * Started: "A Person of Interest"PLL119-1074.jpg

Trivia

 * Spencer is the second most recipient of "A's" messages among the liars, after Hanna.
 * Spencer has kissed more guys in the series than the other liars.
 * Spencer is the main target of "A" being the one he or she has tried the most times to frame or even kill. This is most likely since Spencer is the only one who could ever stand up to Alison
 * Out of the other three girls, she is closest to Emily.
 * She is the most determined and hardworking one on the four
 * Spencer was the closest to Alison, even though they fought constantly because Spencer was the only one able to stand up to her. Alison told only Spencer she had a secret boyfriend (later revealed as Ian Thomas) the summer she died

TV Series - Book Series Comparison

 * Spencer lost her virginity to Wren Kim in the books, in the TV show they never slept together.
 * In the books Spencer has blonde hair while in the series she has dark brown hair.
 * In the books Spencer is a popular overachiever whilst in the series the popular part is not given light.