10 Ways Pretty Little Liars Tricked Us Into Thinking Aria Was A

The Pretty Little Liars fandom often wondered, “Was Aria supposed to be A?” due to the constant clues pointing to her. Pretty Little Liars followed Aria, Emily, Hannah, and Spencer as they tried to uncover the identity of the person stalking and torturing them – known by the name A. The series went through multiple As, each taking over for the last. Before Pretty Little Liars ended, fans took to social media to dissect why they believe Aria is A. Despite the opportunities to make Aria into A, she never took over that role.

In the years since the finale, the conversation surrounding Aria as A has continued on YouTube and Reddit, with continued speculation that showrunner I. Marlene King and the writers originally planned Aria to be A. Others think Aria would’ve been better than the characters who filled the role of A and the passion for this theory comes from the numerous clues throughout the series that pointed to this conclusion.

Watch Pretty Little Liars on Hulu

10
Aria Possesses Multiple Phones In Pretty Little Liars

She Cycles Through Three Phones In Season 1 Alone

In Pretty Little Liars, Aria cycles through cell phones at a noticeable rate. During season 1 alone, she switches between three models of phones. Aria doesn’t stick to one model once it’s changed, either. She uses the phones interchangeably without any mention of why. Without any explanation, viewers were left to fill in the blanks. If Aria was A, she would’ve had multiple phones to text the Liars from.

Attention is drawn to the multiple phones again in Pretty Little Liars season 2, episode 20, “CTRL-A” when Aria cancels dinner with Ezra. Rather than coming from her phone, Ezra gets the message from an unknown caller. In this series, every little detail counts and the only other character who texts from an unknown number is A. It’s also important to note that her canceling the date circumvents A’s plan to expose Aria and Ezra’s relationship. This whole encounter felt too convenient to be a coincidence.

9
Aria Seems To Lie About Basic Life Details

She Seemingly Oscillates Between Being Vegan & Vegetarian Whenever It’s Convenient

Though all the girls lie at different points, Aria seems to lie more about small, unimportant details. When Aria and Ezra first meet in the pilot, she isn’t forthright about her age. Later, when she meets Maggie, Aria lies about her name and age. In the first episode, Aria orders a cheeseburger but then proceeds to oscillate between being a vegetarian and vegan whenever it’s convenient.

These are just a few examples of Aria lying about basic life details. Many of these issues could’ve been continuity errors in Pretty Little Liars, but they increased the suspicion towards Aria.

8
The A In Aria Looks Like A’s Signature On The Halloween Train

The Middle Line Crosses Over The Two Sides

During Pretty Little Liars season 3, episode 13, “This Is A Dark Ride,” Aria meets Adam Lambert on the Halloween Train. She tries to introduce herself twice, but the noise from a passing train drowns out her voice so she writes her name on the foggy window. Everything about this seems normal until she writes the second “A” in her name.

The “A” looks identical to A’s typical signature. The middle line, which is slightly diagonal instead of flat, crosses over the two sides with the line looking longer on one side. This similarity made many viewers suspicious.

7
Mona’s Cryptic Message Called Aria A Killer

She Says, “Miss Aria, You’re A Killer, Not Ezra’s Wife.”

When Mona is in Radley Sanitorium, Hanna and Aria break in to speak with her unsupervised as they need information about who is tormenting them. Mona starts speaking in a code that Mona and Hanna made up when they were best friends. She says the words, “Miss Aria, you’re a killer, not Ezra’s wife.” With the code, this breaks down into “Maya knew.” The words seemed suspicious to begin with, but the show writes it off when Hanna decodes the sentence.

Unfortunately, Pretty Little Liars never explains what Maya knew. She wasn’t killed by or connected to any version of A. Following Maya’s death, it begs the question of whether the sentence was literal rather than code. Theoretically, if Aria was A, Mona would’ve learned this when A visited her at Radley at the end of Pretty Little Liars season 2 and she could’ve been trying to clue in Hanna. This turned out to be untrue since Aria wasn’t A, and it left questions about the code unanswered.

6
Aria Wore A Version Of The Black Swan Costume

The Black & Red Dress Looks Similar To One Black Swan Outfit

In Pretty Little Liars season 2, episode 25, “UnmAsked,” the Liars believe that A will be at the masquerade ball dressed as the Black Swan. When they arrive at the ball, Aria is dressed in a black and red striped dress that looks suspiciously similar to one iteration of The Black Swan‘s poster. When A changed from Mona to the next person, this detail only added fuel to the fire about Aria being A.

5
Aria’s Mom Tells Her She Can’t Play With People Like Dolls

A Also Interacts With More Dolls In Later Seasons

Throughout the series, A shows an obsession with dolls, using them to represent the Liars on multiple occasions. In Pretty Little Liars season 1, episode 10, “Keep Your Friends Close,” Ella tells Aria, “People aren’t dolls; you can’t just play with them and put them back in the box when you’re done.” The memorable quote was brought to mind again when A was seen interacting with more dolls in later seasons. If Aria was intended to be A, this conversation would have been a clever piece of foreshadowing.

4
A Puts Knives In Jake’s Punching Bag When He Talks Bad About Ezra

A Seemingly Had An Interest In Protecting Ezra

Oftentimes, A hurts the Liars by attacking their loved ones. This changed in Pretty Little Liars season 4, episode 16, “Close Encounters,” when A puts knives in Jake’s lucky punching bag. At this point in the story, Aria and Jake are broken up.

They aren’t even speaking after Jake tells Aria about Ezra having an outburst of anger in the middle of Rosewood but then the knives appear in Jake’s punching bag at the end of the episode. Based on the timing of the attack on Jake, it seems that A has a vested interest in protecting Ezra.

3
Aria Burned Ezra’s Book In Pretty Little Liars

The Book Reveals Ezra Knows Who A Is

When Aria first learns about Ezra’s book, she says that she wants to read every page he wrote to know what he put above her in importance. She later tells the other Liars that Ezra believes he knows who A is and who killed Ali, implying that she read the pages. Rather than sharing them with the liars, Aria decides to burn the book in Pretty Little Liars season 4, episode 21, “She’s Come Undone.” The suspicious action made many believe she was trying to hide information that Ezra uncovered.

2
Aria’s Doll Is Dressed Like A In Mona’s Lair

The Other Barbie Dolls Look Exactly Like Their Liar Counterparts

When Spencer and Mona go to A’s lair, they find a dollhouse with Barbies dressed like each of the liars. Every doll is dressed in the style of the character except for the Aria doll. Instead of her unique and eclectic style, the doll wears a black zip-up hoodie and dark pants, a typical outfit of A. The only thing her doll is missing is a pair of black, leather gloves. If Aria was A’s accomplice, that would explain the doll’s attire. She could’ve easily worked with the first A and then taken over when A went away.

1
Aria & A Are Both Left-Handed

A Switches To Using Her Left Hand In Season 2

During season 1 of Pretty Little Liars, I. Marlene King and the writers were still plotting out the long-term storylines. As such, many details changed when entering the second season. One example of this is that A switches to using their left hand dominantly instead of their right. This change stays fairly consistent throughout the rest of the series, only changing when someone else on the A-Team is filmed in their hoodie. Many viewers looked at this as a hint at A’s identity.

A number of characters use their left hand dominantly, including Alison DiLaurentis, Paige McCullers, Cece Drake, Jason DiLaurentis, Wren Kingston, and Aria Montgomery. Mona’s also ambidextrous, using both hands dominantly at different times. It turns out this detail did hint at A’s identity in Pretty Little Liars; it was simply misinterpreted as Aria due to the other clues pointing in that direction.