This article is about "A," the television character. You may be looking for A (Book Character), Big A, Uber A, or A (Original Sin). |
“ | I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. | ” |
— A
|
A is the main antagonist of the Pretty Little Liars franchise. Originally based around the wealthy Rosewood, Pennsylvania and its surrounding environment, A is the anonymous stalker who blackmails and tortures The Liars with an almost near-omnipresence.
The original A's reign of terror spanned from Season 1 to Season 2. Big A is the person who stole the game and played it from Season 3 to the first half of Season 6, while Uber A stole the game from the latter half of Season 6 to the end of Season 7.
In total, there have been two active A users - Mona Vanderwaal and Charlotte DiLaurentis. Mona devised her schemes in retaliation to Alison DiLaurentis' merciless bullying and revived it to punish Hanna Marin for leaving her for The Liars. She kept the game going in a desperate attempt to keep the popular life she built after Alison's disappearance. Charlotte, once known as “CeCe Drake”, stole the game from Mona while in Radley. She used the A alias to torture the Liars for their perceived relief at Alison's disappearance, but became addicted to the power it gave her. Each girl had a plethora of "A-Team" members and red herrings. The A alias spawned one sister-villain, Alex Drake, who altered the alias to include her initials, A.D.
The latest incarnation of A is based miles away from Rosewood in the small town of Millwood. This time, A is hellbent on making the newest generation of Little Liars pay for the original sin their mothers forged twenty-two years ago, as well as their own mistakes.
History[]
Original A[]
- Main article: Mona Vanderwaal
Mona Vanderwaal was the progenitor of the A alias and the A-game. She was bullied and tormented by Alison DiLaurentis through high school, given the cruel nickname Loser Mona: The biggest loser of Rosewood for her geeky outfits and mannerisms. Mona wanted Alison to feel the fear that she inflicted on Mona daily. She adopted the alias A and sent Alison threatening messages. The messages escalated to the point where Alison no longer felt safe. After Alison's disappearance, Mona stopped using the alias and became Rosewood's new Queen Bee. She became best friends with Alison's former posse member, Hanna Marin, together they dominated the school in the sophomore year. While starting their junior year, Mona saw Hanna interact with her former best friends Spencer Hastings, the newly returned Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields. She believed Hanna had left her for The Liars, and in turn, that the Liars had "stolen" Hanna from her. She restarted her A alias shortly before Alison's "body" was discovered, in the hopes it would tear the girls apart. Her plan backfired as it drove them closer together, and Mona became obsessed with the A-game.
Her time as A was mainly spent threatening and blackmailing the Liars into doing demeaning tasks, humiliating them in public, or exposing their secrets. She was ultimately exposed as A in, "UnmAsked", and sent to Radley Sanitarium for intense psychiatric treatment. During her reign, Mona had the fewest number of A-Team members, using only Lucas Gottesman and Melissa Hastings - both of whom she blackmailed. After her release, Mona was surprised when someone else restarted her game. Intrigued and yearning to play the game again, she began helping the new puppet master, whose game was increasingly more volatile.
Big A[]
- Main article: Big A
Charlotte DiLaurentis was introduced to the game and the A alias during her time at Radley Sanitarium, where she met the recently admitted Mona Vanderwaal. Charlotte was intrigued by Mona, who she described as the, "craziest girl". She snuck into Mona's room for story time and would listen to all the ways Mona made The Liars suffer. Mona told Charlotte how "happy" the Liars were when Alison disappeared, which angered Charlotte. Charlotte was one of Alison's closest friends before her disappearance and her adoptive sister, though the latter was kept a secret. She planned ways to insert herself into the Liars' lives and escaped Radley to start her game. She became addicted to the power and upped the antics from Mona's original plans. She forced the Liars to commit crimes and break laws. She used their most dangerous and deadliest secrets to manipulate them to do her bidding, often times creating bigger secrets or crimes to further blackmail them with. When Mona was released from Radley, Charlotte integrated her into the A-Team, among several others including Jenna Marshall, Toby Cavanaugh, Spencer Hastings - a double agent at the time - Sara Harvey, and Noel Kahn. She also murdered Darren Wilden and was responsible for the deaths of several others. After Wilden's murder, Charlotte fled to France but returned when she had to satiate her addiction to the game.
Her fantasy devolved and she saw the Liars as nothing more than dolls for her to play with. She wanted to play with them forever. She kidnapped Mona and framed Alison for Mona's "death" and then kidnapped the remaining Liars to hold prisoner in her dollhouse. She tortured them for weeks until they managed to escape. Charlotte and her primary helper Sara Harvey were ultimately revealed in, "Game Over, Charles", when Charlotte told Alison her origin story. Afterward, Charlotte's plan to murder herself and Alison was thwarted and she was sent to Welby State Psychiatric Hospital for intense therapy. She was released from Welby five-years-later and planned to restart the game upon her release. However, she was murdered before she had the chance. Her death sparked the rise of the third, final, and deadliest, A.
Uber A[]
- Main article: Uber A
After the murder of Charlotte DiLaurentis, her secret half-sister Alex Drake traveled to the United States to find Charlotte's killer. Alex mistakenly believed The Liars knew who the killer was, or that one of them had done it. She used violence, blackmail, and murder to try and force them to come clean. Whereas Mona and Charlotte could never be seen hiding in the shadows, this copycat A hid in plain sight, via masks and disguises. At the beginning of her game, Alex didn't sign her messages with the letter A. Instead, she used emojis, which differentiated her from the original A-Team and her predecessors. After Hanna claimed to be Charlotte's killer, Alex stopped using emojis and signed her messages with her initials, "A.D.". Like her predecessors, Alex became addicted to the game and wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible. She wanted to play with them as Charlotte once did. She built a board game to do so, Liar's Lament, which was one of the most dangerous moves she made.
After successfully finding the killer and finishing Liar's Lament, Alex went dormant for two-years. She reappeared for Aria's wedding week. Alex successfully kidnapped her identical twin sister, Spencer, with her endgame being to kill Spencer and live her life. To ensure everyone would believe her, Alex had her boyfriend shoot her in the shoulder, she cut her hair, and adapted an American accent. Alex wanted friends that would do anything for each other, a family, and a sense of belonging. Upon convincing The Liars of her identity, Alex planned to murder Spencer and then their mother. She was stopped by Spencer, The Liars, and Toby Cavanaugh. She was then seemingly arrested by the police and taken into custody. Instead of being arrested, Alex was kidnapped alongside Mary Drake and taken to France, where they lived in an underground dollhouse owned by Mona Vanderwaal.
Millwood A[]
- Main article: A (Original Sin)
This A is an alias used by the formerly anonymous stalker Archie Waters in Millwood to torment, blackmail, and harass his victims. A targeted the Little Liars to make them pay for the original sin their mothers committed two decades ago against his sister Angela Waters, as well as the Little Liars' own sins. He is objectively the most violent A because of his proclivity to murder, though he isn't as devious or petty as his predecessors. He worked with his once estranged father Marshall Clanton to accomplish their shared goal.
After Davie's death, Marshall weaponized Archie, who became more violent and murderous, intent on punishing sinners himself. His time as A was spent threatening and blackmailing the Little Liars, exposing their secrets, leveraging their mothers "sin", and killing anyone who "hurt" the Little Liars. Archie and Marshall revealed their identities in, "Chapter Ten: Final Girls" during a makeshift trial against The Sinners and Little Liars. After Archie survived a brutal fight with Imogen, he escaped police custody and avenged Angela by killing Sheriff Beasley. He the murdered Chip Langsberry for his sin against Imogen and Tabby. This A is responsible for the deaths of seven sinners.
Appearances and Disguises[]
A and Uber A/A.D. make appearances as a figure with black leather gloves, a black hood, dark pants, and dark shoes. Throughout the seasons, the story focuses on the mystery of A. However, A has sported many different disguises, including the disguise of Red Coat, and The Black Widow.
Uber A used the most disguises and costumes of any of her predecessors. She disguised herself as a maid, gardener, and an old man, among other masks.
Series[]
Pretty Little Liars[]
Pretty Dirty Secrets[]
A hides in the Halloween store after Shana closes up. A then admires a blonde wig that resembles Alison's hair and takes a police badge from a nearby display. A hides and gets out a knife when a security guard enters, but the guard's attention is averted by a text and he leaves just before reaching "A's" hiding spot. A checks all the videos on the computer that was put through the security cameras. A looks at the video of CeCe and Jason and pauses to stroke the image of CeCe on the computer. The next video is of Noel and Garrett talking. The hooded figure zooms in on the mystery woman emerging from the dressing room and nods. The last video is of Lucas and the "baby face" talking. The figure rewinds and zooms in on an individual passing in the background, wearing a red hooded trenchcoat like Vivian Darkbloom's and black boots. A copies the videos on a hard drive and deletes the video's on the computer.
A is seen looking over plans for the Halloween Train.
The A-Team[]
- Main article: The A-Team
The A-Team is an exclusive list of individuals who have acted as A at one point, whether through blackmail, double agent, or being a true A. They are also individuals who have worked for Mona, Charlotte, or Alex at some point during their respective reigns. They completed tasks and obeyed orders given to them by their respective leaders.
"A's" Revealed[]
- Mona Vanderwaal was the 1st A to be revealed, also known as Original A, the one that created "the game". Mona was revealed in 2x25 "UnmAsked".
- Toby Cavanaugh was the 2nd A to be revealed. Toby was also the "betrAyer" and was revealed in 3x12 "The Lady Killer". He was later revealed to be a double agent to help the girls.
- Spencer Hastings was the 3rd A to be revealed. Spencer was revealed in 3x23 "I'm Your Puppet". She only joined to see if Toby was alive and to find out who Red Coat is.
- Lucas Gottesman was the 4th A to be revealed, Mona's helper by blackmail and revealed in 4x01 "A is for A-L-I-V-E". He gave Emily the massage in season two.
- Melissa Hastings was the 5th A to be revealed. She was The Black Swan and the Queen of Hearts, under blackmailed orders.
- Darren Wilden was the 6th A to be revealed. He was the second Queen of Hearts on the Halloween train and was somehow helping Big A in Season 3 before his death.
- Charlotte DiLaurentis is the 7th A to be revealed and also, Big A. She was revealed in 5x25 "Welcome to the Dollhouse". She was thought to be Alison's brother under the name Charles DiLaurentis, but in "Game Over, Charles", it is revealed that Charles is a transgender woman, Charlotte DiLaurentis, better known under the alter ego, CeCe Drake. She is the one who stole the game from Mona as Red Coat.
- Sara Harvey is the 8th A to be revealed. She is Red Coat and The Black Widow, she worked as a decoy for Charlotte. She is revealed in "Game Over, Charles".
- Aria Montgomery is the 9th A to be revealed. Joined in Power Play. She only joined to protect her friends and prevent her file about Ezra from getting out. Was also being blackmailed by A.D. to trash Emily and Alison's nursery and place the recording of Peter Hastings and Jessica DiLaurentis in Spencer's house.
- Alex Drake is the 10th and final A to be revealed. She wanted to avenge Charlotte's death and became Uber A. She was the one who created the board game and kidnapped Hanna.
- Marshall Clanton and Archie Waters are the 11th and 12th A's to be revealed in the PLL universe. They wanted to avenge Angela Waters by tormenting those they believed were responsible for her suicide. It spiraled into punishing anyone they viewed as being sinners.
- Susan Langsberry and Wes are the 13th and 14th A's to be revealed. They wanted revenge on Tabby Haworthe and Imogen Adams for 'lying' about Mrs. Langsberry's son, Chip Langsberry, raping them. Wes wanted to make an original movie where his kills were real and live streamed.
Mona's Psychiatric File[]
Physician: Dr. Rollins
Patient DOB: 10/8/1994
- Overpowering feelings of revenge and anger management.
- No desire to kill them self, only others.
- [...] prone to sudden outbursts of anger and aggression. The client seems confused about the nature of [...]; assumes it is their job to "police" and monitor all activity in the neighborhood that [...] us." Often refers to unnamed adversaries as "nosey bitches."
- [...] "impulse control" [...] Perhaps the driving force behind recent problems. May have [...] their own omnipotence. Client appears to demonstrate the ability to [...]
- [...] demonstrates a total [...] Client becomes agitated [...]
A's Lair[]
- Main article: A's Lair
This lair is the base of operations for A. They would send text message, make plans, orchestrate meetings, and store their evidence in a secret location known only to them. The Lair was originally constructed by Mona in the Lost Woods Resort, though her predecessors kept the idea of a lair in their own ways. Charlotte had multiple versions of lairs as the Liars often discovered the locations, though Charlotte had moved them before any evidence was discovered. She later invested in a lair that doubled as a dollhouse where she ultimately held the Liars hostage. The dollhouse was destroyed during a fire set by the Liars, and later, taken over by the Rosewood Police Department for an official investigation. Alex Drake had a version of a lair in an underground house where she kept her hostages and information. This "lair" was ultimately destroyed by the police.
Victims[]
Murders
- Bethany Young - Mona hit Bethany on September 1, 2009, thinking she was Alison. Bethany was later buried alive by Melissa Hastings, indirectly causing Bethany's death.
- Charlotte DiLaurentis - Mona and Charlotte had an argument because Charlotte wanted to start torturing the Liars again. Mona, wanting to defend her friends, unintentionally killed Charlotte after pushing her, causing her neck to be hit by a metal rod.
Survivors
- Hanna Marin (Hit her with a car)
- Emily Fields (Attacked)
- Aria Montgomery (Attacked)
- Spencer Hastings (Tried to shove her off of a climb)
Murders
- Darren Wilden - Charlotte shot Darren twice after discovering that her sister Alison was alive. Charlotte killed him because she knew if Alison wanted to come back, Darren wouldn't let Alison tell her "story."
Survivors
- Alison DiLaurentis (Attacked)
- Hanna Marin (Attacked)
- Emily Fields (Attacked)
- Aria Montgomery (Attacked)
- Spencer Hastings (Attacked)
- Mona Vanderwaal (Attacked)
- Toby Cavanaugh (Attacked)
Murders
- Wren Kingston - Alex allegedly beat Wren to death and turned his ashes into a diamond.
Survivors
- Hanna Marin (Tortured/Kidnapped)
A's Expenses[]
- A long-term rental room in a motel. (UnmAsked)
- A presumably designed "Black Swan" dress. (UnmAsked)
- A large amount of money in an envelope for the doll maker. (If These Dolls Could Talk)
- Numerous cell phone's with a talk and text plan (Costing Approx. $2 per day of use, plus initial purchase fee) Specifics revealed in Let the Water Hold Me Down from the packaging.
- Four custom-made pull-string porcelain dolls that A can program to repeat specially designed voice messages as well as four gold nameplate necklaces for the dolls. Over My Dead Body (although, it is revealed in A Hot Piece of A that the dolls may have belonged to some Hastings ancestor, and may have been found in The Hastings' Cabin).
- Therapy sessions with Dr. Sullivan. (Touched by an 'A'-ngel)
- A $450 pair of designer Tory Burch boots (ordered online). (Never Letting Go)
- Melissa's diamond ring from the pawnbroker (approx. $7000). (My Name Is Trouble)
- A complete set of darkroom equipment (unless stolen). (Picture This)
- Multiple boxes of AlphaBits cereal. (Touched by an 'A'-ngel)
- A gift basket for Hanna and Emily delivered to Hanna's door (with stuff dolls and candy). (Surface Tension)
- A box of syringes and a bottle of Human Growth Hormone (HGH). (Surface Tension)
- A box of Danby paraphernalia (mug, sweatshirt) shipped to Emily's house. (Blind Dates)
- Two custom-designed beaded bracelets ('Alison' and 'Jenna', approx. $72). (To Kill a Mocking Girl)
- A fake marble trophy. (The Badass Seed)
- Sustaining three (previously four) pet rats. (The Badass Seed)
- A seemed to have rented a room in a motel for at least one night. (A Person of Interest)
- Owns high-tech equipment, including surveillance cameras, room bugs, and a projector. (Numerous occasions showed, however prominent in I Must Confess & The Devil You Know)
- Half a dozen custom-designed cupcakes (for Hanna). (Know Your Frenemies)
- A ticket to an art opening in Philadelphia (for Hanna). (If At First You Don't Succeed, Lie, Lie Again)
- Custom-designed fortune cookies (for the girls before homecoming). (There's No Place Like Homecoming)
Notes[]
- In the episode "The Lady Killer", the betrAyer and 2nd member of the "A-Team" is revealed to be Toby. Multiple endings were shot to avoid the real one from being leaked. Alternate's for the betrAyer's role were Caleb and Paige. These alternate endings are on the Season 3 DVD.
- However, neither Caleb or Paige could have been the betrAyer, because Lyndon James tied up Paige and almost killed her, and he shot Caleb in the stomach.
- Coincidentally, both of these assaults involve Lyndon James.
- All four of them also loved interests of The Liars at the time.
- The first appearances listed in the characters' infoboxes are for their reveals. For A's appearances see A's biography. For the first appearances of the characters as individuals see their individual pages.
- When Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily start therapy, Dr. Sullivan states that she cannot tell the police - or anyone else what is said in the therapy sessions unless she believes that they are a danger to themselves or to others. In the files that Dr. Sullivan is searching in "I Must Confess" it states that A is more than willing to hurt other people, has an obsession with revenge, and even refers to the liars as "nosey bitches."
- Mona was clearly horseback riding with Hanna at the time A gave Emily a message in "Touched by an 'A'-ngel", indicating Mona had a helper. (Mona reveals this to be Lucas in "'A' is for A-l-i-v-e")
- In "This Is A Dark Ride", it was thought two members other than Mona and Toby were on the Halloween train. They were wearing the Queen of Hearts costume who sedated Aria, then trapped her in a wooden coffin with a dead Garrett Reynolds (who Wilden killed). Also, when Aria was being pushed off a train, you could clearly hear a female voice (Melissa) encouraging a reluctant male voice (Wilden) to help push.
- In "Dead to Me", Emily recalls remembering another event from That Night. She saw an "A-Team" member (Mona) trying to open Alison's coffin while the Big A watched and supervised.
- "Big A" carries around Vivian Darkbloom's driver license and uses it.
- Throughout the series, it is suspected, then confirmed in "Welcome to the Dollhouse", that Big A's favorite liar is Alison. This may be because Charlotte thought Alison was her sister. This is shown when A gives Mona-as-Alison a gas mask with a note that reads: "Because you're my favorite. -A".
Trivia[]
- The original A is left-handed, while her two successors are right-handed.
- In an interview for ABC Family, Oliver Goldstick and Marlene King discussed "A," and clearly referred to A as she multiple times.
- Mona used Wizard of Oz references. She custom designed a fortune cookie that read, "Lions and tigers and bitches, oh my!", a twist on the common lyric, "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my". She also used There's No Place Like Homecoming, an homage to Dorothy's words at the end of the film, "there's no place like home". Finally, in Can You Hear Me Now? she sent a flier to the liars that read, "Ding Dong, the Bitch is Dead," a reprisal of the film's song "Ding Dong, the wicked Witch is Dead."
- A is extremely talented at hacking into computers and databases.
- Money was never an issue for any of the As, as the first two had wealthy parents, and the third inherited a large sum of money from her predecessor.
- Mona once revealed that the "A-Team" plotted to frame Paige for the murder of Maya St. Germain, prior to Lyndon James confession.
- While A exists in both the books and TV series, the two main "A's" are not affiliated with each other, whereas the "A's" in the TV series are al connected.
- In Seasons 1 and 2, multiple people commented on A's pretty eyes.
- Throughout 3A, there were more than one A doing the dirty deeds. When CeCe Drake came to town, A rented an apartment, and in "Single Fright Female" one A gave an apartment key to another A. In "Game Over, Charles" those two A's were revealed as Charlotte DiLaurentis and Sara Harvey.
- A used both the phrases "act normal bitch(es)!" and "dead girls can't smile" on more than one occasion.
- In 6B, Uber A commonly used either devil emoji to sign their texts instead of "-A" or doesn't sign their texts at all. This stopped at the season 6 finale, when the first text signed as A.D was sent.
- Until Aria helped A.D. in In the Eye Abides the Heart, Spencer was the only Liar to ever join the A Team.
- Overall, a total of fifteen characters have been revealed as 'A' or a helper to 'A'.
- Mona Vanderwaal is the only primary A who wasn't a sibling to one of The Liars. Both Big A and Uber A were half-sisters and/or cousins to one of the Liars.
Quotes[]
- Main article: A's Messages
Hanna: If Ian didn’t kill Ali, did A? |
Aria: A knows everything. |
Emily: If that bitch is A, then this could be a trap. |
Alison: You know, I really should do something about that A. That bitch is genuinely getting on my nerves. |
Mona (A) [to Spencer]: You're not the only genius in this car. You bitches underestimated me. |
A: I'm still here bitches, and I know everything. |
A: Mona played with dolls, I play with body parts. Game on, bitches. |
A [after removing all messages from the girls' phones]: Let's all start with a clean slate. |
A: MY DRESSES. MY GAME. MY RULES. |
A: You'll get your $$$ back if you do what I say. Sweet dreams. |
Toby [about A]: It's always felt like a "she", hasn't it? |
A: Be Careful, Hanna. I Heard Prison Food Makes You Fat. |
A [in a note placed in Hanna's mouth so small it required a magnifying glass to read]: I told you, dead girls don't smile. Stop looking. |
Gallery[]
A has a photo gallery. |
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