“I’m ‘A;’ ‘A’ for Aria, ‘A’ for Anonymous.” These are the words that have come directly out of Aria Montgomery’s mouth. “Hey, Big A, wait up,” is what Mona Vanderwaal, aka the original “A” once said to Aria. We all know that of all the Liars, Aria is repeatedly referred to as “the best at lying.” As a theorist, I consider myself to be one of Aria’s most faithful supporters, but even I must admit that there is staggeringly substantial evidence to lead one to believe that Aria could be “A” or at the very least that she could be on the “A team.” However, because I really don’t think Marlene King would make one of the Liars be “A,” I have not and will not look for any evidence against any of them. All the same though, I would like to share a few theories by other people who have done the work to show that “Aria is A.”
Now, if the above theories were true, then Aria would need to have reason(s) for being “A.” In season five, when Mona labeled the Liars with words describing why Alison chose each of them to be in her group, she labeled Aria as “caring/compassionate.” Generally speaking, most people who care a lot tend to go to extremes to prove they care and sometimes the line between right and wrong is blurred for these people and their big hearts. I suspect that if Aria is “A,” it is because she literally cares too much for her own good. Despite the dysfunctions of the group, Alison, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer were best friends before Alison disappeared. While they were best friends, it was painfully obvious to Aria’s caring heart that they were incredibly mean to Mona, whose desperate desire was to be a part of their tight-knit group.
After Aria and her family left for Iceland and as she and the other Liars began to drift away from each other, I suspect that Aria and Mona began to form a long distance friendship. I suspect that Aria and Mona might have even already had some kind of a friendship. Because the “A” text messages started up again when Aria and her family returned to Rosewood after being gone for a year, I suspect that Aria and Mona might have had some kind of an arrangement planned so that the Liars would be friends again and include Mona in their friendship. When things didn’t go as planned, I suspect that is when Mona took her “A game” against the Liars to a whole new level.
After Mona revealed herself as “A” to Spencer and was locked up in Radley because of it, I suspect that the irrational side of Aria’s caring tendencies took over and led to her doing incredibly psychotic things for the sake of keeping her friendship with the other Liars intact. Things with Aria’s life, “A’s” behavior, and the Liars’ friendship tend to exist in parallel. When Aria’s life seems to be in a downward spiral, the Liars’ friendship tends to become stronger and stronger, and then when the Liars’ friendship is strong, “A” tends to do the most damage. If my fellow theorists are correct, then these parallels are not coincidences, but proof that “Aria is A.” For me, the one thing that might convince me that “Aria is A” is that even Ezra, a man who credits love at first sight (despite his originally impure motives) for his relationship, suspected Aria of being “A” as seen in the picture below.
In conclusion, it is completely plausible that “Aria is A;” however, I do not believe she is “A.” If I am wrong, and she is “A,” then I believe it will be because compassionate people like her thrive off of the confirmation of genuine relationships. Therefore, in her desperation to know that she will not be abandoned (as she likely felt when she found out her dad was cheating and probably how she felt when Alison disappeared) she went to psychotic extremes to make everything work with her friends, her family, and with Ezra.
Brittany Alexandria 