I won’t stop posting PLL or sharing my thoughts, but this will be my last every PLL theory, and it’s gonna be long so bare with me.

PLL Explained:

Lets start from the beginning. Well as far back as we can. It was 1980 something, Mary  hadn’t been out of Radley long but she was finally ready to get back to a normal life and go to college. She meets Ted, he’s sweet and just the kind of good guy a “bad girl” like Mary needed. They date. She gets pregnant. The first person she decided to tell was her sister Jessica, she had hoped this would bring them together as she wanted her sister to be a part of her child’s life. But we know Jessica she was born jealous. She makes up a lie to get Mary sent back to Radley. Mary wasn’t able to tell Ted she was pregnant. And now she was doomed to have her child in Radley. Jessica and her jealously of Mary getting pregnant first is what led to her affair with Peter Hastings. Ken was always away for work, making getting pregnant hard, but if she timed things right Peter could get the job done. And that is just what happened. Mary had Charles first he was taken by the state. About 6 months later Jessica delivered a boy too, Jason. She goes to visit her sister to rub it in her face only to learn that Mary’s baby was given to the state. Jessica, wanting everything of Mary’s decides to get custody of Charles making him her and Ken’s child. Once Jessica got custody of Charles the DiLaurentis moved far away from Mary and Peter to Georgia. The DiLaurentis family lived in Georgia happily for years, Even Mary was able to get her act together and was released from Radley. Jessica become pregnant again, this time with twin girls. Around this same time Mary pretends to be Jessica in Rosewood and meets up with Peter (who she knew was Jason’s father) and they have a moment. Mary ends up pregnant with Spencer. Jessica gives birth to two little girls in Georgia. Mary learns about this. She goes to Georgia to find Jessica, that’s when she realizes that Jessica has Charles. Mary is upset. She feels that Jessica stole Charles from her and decided to take one of Jessica’s babies for revenge. Jessica knows it was Mary who kidnapped her baby and she turns Mary in. Mary is sent back to Radley (very pregnant) but the baby was never found. Jessica and Ken decide to move back to Rosewood because they were “the people who lost a child” to all their neighbors in Georgia. So the DiLaurentis’ move back to Rosewood. Jessica tells Peter and Veronica what Mary did to Peter. Mary gives birth to Spencer in Radley and Peter and Veronica raise her.  Jessica and Peter even got all the kids together once so they could meet their siblings (the Campbell apple farm - the baby the boys met wasn’t Alison, it was Spencer) A few months later the bathtub incident happens, and Jessica and Ken (worried that Charles is more like his mother than they believed) send Charles away to Radley. All is well for a few years then one day while visiting Charles, Jessica meets Bethany and her father. Bethany is about the same age as Alison and reminds Jessica of her with her blonde hair and pretty eyes. Jessica starts to wonder if Bethany could be her long lost child. She starts to buy Bethany gifts (the yellow dress, a horse, etc) and show her a little extra attention when she visited Charles. One summer Charles was able to go to a summer camp and Jessica spent a lot of time with Bethany getting to know her and even developed feelings for Bethany’s dad. But Bethany did not like this. She felt her dad was cheating on her mom with Jessica and it made her angry. This went on for a few more years. Then one day Bethany comes up with a plan to get rid of Jessica for good. She sees who she believes to be Jessica standing on the roof, without a second thought she pushes her over the ledge. Only it wasn’t Jessica it was Marion. Distraught at what she had done she blames it on Charles. But of course here comes Jessica to cover it all up. And before Bethany knew it, Charles was gone. He had died. The next time Bethany see’s Charles, he is now Charlotte. But Charlotte doesn’t introduce herself to Bethany as Charlotte, she introduces herself as Alison DiLaurentis, Jessica’s daughter. Charlotte tells Bethany how much she hates Jessica and how she would love to get her out of her life. Bethany believed every word, until that day when Radley called Jessica to come get her daughter Alison, Jessica shows up and it’s Charlotte dressed head to toe in Alison’s clothes. Bethany overheard Jessica telling Radley that this wasn’t Alison, but Jessica leaves with Charlotte anyway. Now Bethany doesn’t trust “Alison” (aka Charlotte) or Jessica. (hence the tapes and drawings) But there wasn’t much Bethany could do from Radley and she needed a plan. A good one. 

Meanwhile. Alison’s twin is not Bethany Young. Alison’s twin grew up in Georgia, knowing nothing of her real family. Until one day a girl named Shana kept calling her Ali. The twin told her I think you have the wrong girl. Shana insisted not, that she looked just like her summer time friend Alison. So Shana shows the twin the picture. Twin can’t believe her eyes it was like looking at a picture of herself. So she asked Shana about this “Alison” girl and Shana told her what she knew. The twin made Shana promise not to tell Alison, and Shana agreed. When summer time came around Alison made her annual trip to go visit Grandma D. While she was there her twin watched her and studied her. She saw how Ali treated people badly. She even watched Ali play her mind games with Shana. Twin had enough, she decided to go to Rosewood to find out what was going on with the rest of her family. Shana even introduced her to a girl named Jenna who lived near Rosewood that twin could stay with. While in Rosewood she was mistaken for Alison a few times. Once by a girl named Mona. She played along trying to be a nicer version of Alison. After seeing how Ali’s life was, her twin decided she needed to know more. The A game starts. The twin starts watching Alison carefully and reaching out anonymously to others when she needed answers. That’s how she discovered NAT club. She is the one who paid Ian to film Ali and her friends. Twin decided that Ali doesn’t deserve this life anymore that she takes it for granted. So she plans to kill Alison and take her place. But her plans go on hold when Jenna and her mom needed to move to Rosewood (As Jenna’s mom was moving in with Toby’s dad) But Jenna told twin that should could stay at their place in Cape May. 

Flash forward. The first secret. Twin is now reaching out to Mona (Ali’s enemy) more often via anonymous texts and emails. She convinces Mona that now is the time to take down Ali. She tells Mona exactly what to do (send the voodoo doll, leave the A notes etc)... It’s Jenna’s first week in Rosewood and she is already invited to a Halloween Party. She heads to the costume shop to pick a costume when she see’s Ali. She knew it was Ali and not twin. Twin had already told her all about Ali. After Jenna’s run in with Ali she calls twin and tells her that she met Ali. Twin pushes her to steal Ali’s spot as it girl and suggests showing up dressed as the “better gaga” Twin is officially kicking off her plan with the help of Mona and Jenna. Only one thing didn’t go as planned. Twin had no way of knowing that Charlotte and Lucas had planned their own special treat for Ali that night. (Ali getting attacked in the house) This actually helped twin because once Ali knew it wasn’t Noel she became aware that someone really was after her.

Moving on. Charlotte and Lucas continue to play silly games to make Alison look bad (the Radley stunt, etc) Twin takes notice and decides that she would like to recruit Charlotte (not knowing Charlotte is related) So she reaches out and asks Charlotte to meet her at Jenna’s. Charlotte who is half playing Ali, half playing with Ali, suggests that Ali stop putting up with Jenna and do something about it (this was Charlotte’s way to lead Ali to the person who was possibly after Ali) So Charlotte doesn’t show up that night, but Alison does and with the help of her friends (who thought they were after Toby) Alison throws the firework into the garage, blinding Jenna and hurting twin. The twin got away before the police came. But now she was super pissed with Alison and her friends. Putting most of the blame on Alison of course. Over the next couple of months Twin and Mona continued to torture Alison. And watched Alison slowly screw over more and more people. (Getting Charlotte kicked out of UPENN, the issues between Ian & Melissa, etc) Every time Alison ruined another life, twin reached out. Ian and Melissa were supplying the NAT videos so twin had knowledge of all the secrets. Charlotte was playing double agent and still pretending to have Ali’s back despite helping plan Ali’s death. 

And finally we get to that night. Charlotte had already convinced Alison that if she couldn’t figure out who was after her she’d have to go on the run (hence Ali saving up money, passports, etc) Charlotte just wanted Ali gone but had little faith that the mystery person would actually do it. So Charlotte sends Bethany the top with a note from Ali, knowing this would set Bethany off. Bethany comes to rosewood to find Ali & Jessica (really Charlotte and Jessica). Meanwhile, Twin has given Mona orders to take Ali out. But Mona mistakes Bethany for Alison and hits her, but she hears someone coming (Melissa) and takes off. Melissa who had just heard Spencer and Ali fight see’s a girl (appears to be Ali) laying on the ground. Assuming the worst of Spencer, Melissa pushes the girl into the hole (that Mona dug) and starts to bury her. Charlotte walks up startling Melissa, and seeing what Melissa was doing. They speak about it for a second before being seen by Jason. At this point they both run away, leaving the girl in the hole only partially buried. Charlotte comes around to the front of the house and believes she see’s Bethany, she hits her upside the head. It’s actually Ali. And Jessica has seen it all. Jessica buries Ali for Charlotte, and calls Wilden to take Charlotte away (presumably back to Radley) Grunwald comes along and pulls Alison out. Alison is later picked up by Mona. Alison tells Mona what happened. That someone hit her in the front yard and that her mother buried her. Mona knows the girl she hit was in the backyard, realizing she did not hit Ali. She did not follow orders. Instead of killing Ali at this point she talks Ali into faking her death and running away. Which is exactly what Alison did; Leaving the yellow top and her Ali bracelet with Mona. During that night when Mona left to gathering somethings for Ali (most likely from the DiLaurentis house) she returned to the grave to see if anyone was in the grave. She finds Bethany, dead. She puts the Ali bracelet on her then recovers the hole. She returns to Alison gives her her things and off Alison goes.  Mona informs twin that Ali is dead.

Now twin just needed to wait for the right time to take Ali’s place. It can’t be too soon because Ali’s family and friends might know its not Ali. So with the help of Mona, she learned how to act like Ali while also transforming Mona into an It girl and subsequently Hanna too. Finally the twin was about ready to make her move, Ali would come back from the dead, but things took a turn. The DiLaurentis’ decided to move away. Twin had Mona take the rest of Ali’s stuff. (When Maya’s family threw it out) Twin was going to need to learn a lot more about Ali. But then a body is found. Everyone finds out it’s Ali and now twin cannot just take Ali’s place. So with that plan being a no go. Twin decides to finish what she started and get back at the girls for being bullies and and blowing up Jenna’s garage. This is why Mona had no real reason for being after the liars, she was just doing the twins work. But during Mona’s reign as A the twin started noticing things. Someone who looked like Ali visited Hanna in the hospital. Someone saved Emily from that garage. Twin learned Ali was actually alive and that Mona had lied to her. So she made Mona out herself as A. She had hoped this would mean that with Mona locked up Ali would come home, then twin cold take her place again. But Ali didn’t come home. And Mona met a girl named Charlotte. Charlotte was the perfect pawn for twin. So via Mona she let Charlotte believe that she would be taking Mona’s place as A. Charlotte really wanted to play the game but couldn’t do that from Radley. So Charlotte leaves Radley and gets herself a place in Rosewood. For the twin the goal is to prove Ali’s alive, for Charlotte its about finding out the truth about her family. Eventually the twin tells Charlotte who she is, which makes Charlotte more on her side. Seasons 3 & 4 are the twin, CeCe, & the liars trying to find out if Ali is alive. Remember there were 3 redcoats in the sawmill in Ravenswood. Ali, Charlotte, & the person who led them to Ezra’s lair. The twin led them to this lair for a reason, this was to make Ezra look more guilty than Charlotte. Once the twin has confirmation that Ali was alive she tells Charlotte she needs to leave the country (because she is accused of murder). Charlotte leaves the country and Ali is exposed, just like the twin planned. This time she sends Shana to kill Ali (because Mona didn’t do it the first time) But instead the liars (Aria) killed Shana. 

So just to add things up: The twin is after the liars for the Jenna thing and the Shana thing. 

So twins next plan to take Ali’s place involves getting Ali and the liars put in jail. At this point (other than Aria) the liars haven’t killed anyone. So she convinces Mona to fake her death. Which Mona agrees too (the blood) The twin comes in and she and Mona fake the crime scene. Of course it looked like Ali in the surveillance video. Because it’s Ali’s twin. This is the first time Mona actually meets the twin (hence her being shocked) But don’t forget she was in on this. 

Once Ali was in jail. Twin just needed to get the liars to Charlotte’s dollhouse, and why not ruin their names in the process. The liars are arrested then kidnapped, making it look like they had escaped. While in the dollhouse, the girls were being tortured by several people. The twin, Charlotte, Mona, Noel, & Sara. The plan would be to keep the liars their permanently. Eventually cluing them in. But holding them captive none the less. Mona would be eventually released having no memory of her kidnapping or the faking of her death. This would clear Alison’s name. She would then be taken to the dollhouse and twin would replace her for good. But the twin didn’t plan for the liars to be smart enough to figure out about Charles... At first the twin decided to play along in their quest to figure out who Charles was. Having Noel stand in as pseudo “Charles” what she didn’t plan for was them catching the damn place on fire. She was literally leading Alison there that night to bring her to the dollhouse. Once the girls had escaped her plan was ruined and Charlotte would be left to take the blame. (Game Over, Charlotte)

But of course Charlotte couldn’t let the game go.when the twin didn’t want to play with Charlotte anymore, Charlotte tried to assemble her own team, (Jenna, Noel, Archer, Lucas, & eventually Mary) She still wanted to play with the girls. But she needed out of Welby first. Finally she gets released. The twin did not want Charlotte to interfere with the plan she’s been coming up with for the last 5 years. So after Charlotte was released, the twin killed her. Using the plan from Spencer’s paper. Already trying to frame someone. Mona is still working for her. After Charlotte is killed she starts tormenting the liars trying to get them to give up evidence that Ali killed Charlotte. It’s just like her plan with Mona only this time someone will really die. She literally plays the girls against themselves. She knows who killed Charlotte and she convinces the girls that it’s possibly one of them, to the point that the girls actually do start incriminating themselves. (Killing Archer) Meanwhile the twin has also taken over all of Charlotte’s minions (Jenna, Noel, Archer, Mary, Sara, Lucas) with the promise that they would be finding Charlotte’s killer, again playing them because she already knows who killed her. Lucas built the board game. Archer got the money. Noel was gathering information. etc... They all played their part. And they all die off once they’ve been exposed or have said too much (Sara, Noel) Jenna hasn’t died yet because the twin has a soft spot for her. But she’s still expendable if she doesn’t play along. Which is why she is holding something over Sydney to force her to play too. By the end of the game one of the liars will go down for Charlotte’s death and the others will be left suffering. 

But the twin never expects for the girls to figure things out. But I think this is actually going to end up being the case. One of the liars will figure out it’s the twin but she won’t be able to tell the others. Eventually someone from the twin’s minions will try to switch sides and help the liars most likely Mona. The twin will be caught and arrested but not before one or two people die in the cross fire (my guesses are one or two of these people; Lucas, Mona, Jenna, or one of the liars- Not Spencer) 

We’ll prob have a time jump of the liars finally living an A/AD free life and see how they are. Alison and Emily will prob be together trying to raise the kid. Spencer and Toby will be friends but not together. Ezra and Aria will probably get married. Caleb and Hanna will probably get married. 

Other things the twin was a part of:

The lodge fire, the twin was the person on the plane. She is the one who knew how to fly. Duncan never met the real Ali he had always met the twin when she was pretending to be Alison. The only time the liars ask Ali about Duncan is when Spencer drug-dreams her up. This was probably the twin at the time. And not actually Alison.

The girl outside the window when Hanna and Mona did the Ouija board was also probably the twin because it led to a pissed off Mr & Mrs D.

So that’s it folks. Ali has a twin and her twin is AD. Ali never knew she was a twin. It’s why she had so many baby pics (there were two of them) Jason was brainwashed to forget it just like he was with Charles.