Could Ashley Marin Be A?

I'm a huge Pretty Little Liars fan, and like most fans, I've gone through phases of believing that just about everybody could be Big A — or at least connected to the A team. I've considered everyone from Wren to Paige to Lucas, and now that we have absolutely zero idea who Pretty Little Liars ' Charles really is beneath that hoodie (a not-at-all-dead Charles? A girl? Who knows?!?), solving this mystery just seems all the more impossible. We've gotten plenty of clues as to A's identity, but perhaps the most head-scratching one is the fact that the Big A reveal will be "heartbreaking," according to actress Sasha Pieterse. One way this reveal could break all of our hearts is by making A someone we not only know, but someone we love — like, say, Hanna's Mom. Could Ashley Marin have been Big A this entire time?

OK, OK... slow down. I'm not saying that the best Pretty Little Liars parent is necessarily scheming to take down her daughter and her friends, but it would be one of the most devastating things to happen on the series, which means we automatically can't rule it out. Sorry, Han.

Here are some ways Ashley could be A, even though, come on, she's totally not... right? RIGHT?!

She Was Blackmailed In Order To Protect Hanna

It's pretty unlikely that Ashley would decide to attack the girls all on her own, which means that if she did get involved with this A business, it would likely be to protect Hanna. We know that Hanna has a tendency to get in trouble, so perhaps Ashley struck a deal with the devil and decided to help torture the girls at Big A's bidding in order to make sure nothing seriously bad happened to her own daughter. Being in the dollhouse did spring Hanna from jail, after all.

She Has Multiple Personalities

Unless Ashley is a total sociopath, the only way she could ever really act as A is by having a second, non-awesome-mom personality living inside her. We know that whoever A is can pass as a seemingly non-evil person sometimes, so if Ashley is A, there's definitely another side of her doing the dirty work.

She Has An Evil Twin

In the Pretty Little Liars book series, it's Ali, the evil twin of Courtney, who becomes A. The show could borrow from that story and make Ashley the one with the twin — perhaps Ashley is the kind parent who was murdered by her own twin, and that twin took her place in Hanna's life.

Are any of these theories even remotely possible? Sure, I guess — anything is on PLL. But at the end of the day, I want to believe that there are some people in Rosewood who are exactly as good as they appear, and I think Ashley is one of them. For more Big A theories, check out Bustle's Pretty Little Liars podcast.

Images: ABC Family; Giphy (3)