'PLL's Charles May Have Had A Fake Ali Before Mona

The big reveal about A's identity pretty much floored every Pretty Little Liars fan, and I'm still not sure how to cope with the idea that Charles aka Big A could be Jason's twin. Not only is Charles a total mystery to us, he's also a little crazier than I expected. Sure, A wasn't going to a particularly sane person, but I don't think I'm just speaking for myself when I say there was no way to know just how far the depths of A's insanity reached. Not only did Charles kidnap the girls and bring them to his very own "dollhouse," he also faked Mona's death so she could play the role of Ali. It was unsettling to see Mona in a blonde wig acting like the incarcerated Queen Bee for Charles' own amusement, but it's even more unsettling when you consider that she might not be the first one cast in the role. Here's a theory: What if Charles kidnapped Sara Harvey to play Ali in his creepy dollhouse, long before Mona was enlisted?

If you're confused about who Sara Harvey actually is, let me back up a bit: Sara was a girl who disappeared roughly around the same time Ali did. Hanna and Emily met up with Sarah's friends after discovering Ali was alive in order to find out whether Sara could be the girl in Ali's grave. They determined that Sara wasn't the girl in the grave, as Sara's friend saw her in the park the day after Ali disappeared. Later, Bethany was found in the grave, and Sara was all but forgotten... or was she?

I didn't give Sara much thought, but maybe I should have. Showrunner I. Marlene King tweeted that we would find out more about Sara (below), and later it was revealed that the mysterious Varjak's phone number (now believed to be Charles' phone number) spelled out "SARA HARVEY" on the keypad. It could be a coincidence or a red herring, but considering that writer Maya Goldsmith just told Bustle that pretty much every clue matters on Pretty Little Liars , it's highly unlikely. Now the question is: How does Sara fit into this mystery?

It all goes back to the night Ali went missing. We can assume that Charles was involved with Ali in some way that night, and perhaps was the one who hit her over the head with the rock, leading Mrs. DiLaurentis to bury her "dead" daughter. Charles was obsessed with Ali, but doesn't seem to want to hurt her — he would have if he could have, right? Perhaps Charles hit Ali as a way to kidnap her and take her to the dollhouse, which he couldn't do because instead Mrs. DiLaurentis buried her — and a dead girl just isn't the doll Charles wanted.

What does Charles need? He needs another girl just like Ali — he needs a Queen Bee to play with in his dollhouse. He can't find Ali, who ran away from Rosewood, so instead, he finds another girl similar to her: Sara Harvey. Not only did Sara physically resemble Ali, but she was described by her friends as a popular leader of their pack. If A couldn't get the real thing, Sara would have been a decent substitute for Ali... which is why I think she ended up in the dollhouse before Mona.

It's eerie to think about, but Charles likely had that dollhouse for a long time before the girls got there. That's not the kind of place you can create overnight, and A clearly has the brains to pull off a kidnapping. Perhaps Charles took Sara as his precious Ali, and kept her there for the first and second season of the show. Then, right before Mona was revealed as the original A, Sara escaped (or, even more horrifying, died) and left Charles with no Ali to play with. That would spur him to steal the A game away from Mona so that he could get one of his dolls back — he just got selfish and wanted the whole collection instead.

This theory is creepy as hell, but it would explain why A wanted Mona to play Ali. Though she wasn't a great Ali originally, after her own makeover she was the perfect girl to take over Ali's role in the dollhouse — she proved she was a great Queen Bee capable of extreme manipulation, just like Ali did.

We'll find out what happened to Sara in Season 6, but for now, let's hope that the girls get out of the dollhouse quickly — only bad things can happen in there.

Images: Eric McCandless, Screenshot/ABC Family; Giphy (2)