If 'PLL's Charles Isn't Imaginary, Where Is He?

Even with all of the big reveals from Pretty Little Liars Season 6, Episode 3 ("Songs of Experience,") we were still left with more questions than answers. Now, we have pretty definitive confirmation that Charles lived with the DiLaurentis family at some point (and that Andrew was adopted... hmm), but other than that? We're about as much in the dark as we were after the so-called #BigAReveal at the end of Season 5. That said, we did get some nuggets of details — such as the fact that "Charlie" was sent away when Jason was just a young boy, and Ali was just a baby. So what exactly happened that got Charles removed from the DiLaurentis household?

Mr. (and the late Mrs.) DiLaurentis have always been shady as all heck — so it's not exactly surprising that they have some major skeletons in the closet (or, as the case may be, sons locked up at Radley). The fact that they have photos of him hidden in button jars and convinced their son that Charlie was only an imaginary friend (that's not going to mess him up or anything) is par for the course — but what in the world could Charles have done to get himself kicked out? As we all know, the DiLaurentis clan can be pretty ride or die, especially if you go by the fact that Jessica was willing to bludgeon her own daughter with a rock to save her son — so whatever Charles did, it must have been pretty darn terrible.

The body count has been mounting for years — we're not sure exactly how many of those deaths can be attributed to Charles (though it's looking more and more like he killed Bethany), but it's safe to say that a murderous past (and present) isn't exactly outside the realm of possibility. Fans have long theorized that Charles somehow injured baby Ali as a child — it would be enough to get him sent away, and it would explain his obsession with her (not to mention the fact that it would give him a ton of fodder for revenge against Ali and her friends). Hey, who knows — maybe his parents could have even sent him over to the nice family who owned Campbell Farm (OK, that's likely to be a red herring, but it's still worth pointing out as a possibility).

While violence seems like the most likely cause for the whole turn of events, is there a chance that Charles could have been sent away for some other reason? Well, considering his many ties to the Radley Sanatorium, Charles could have been sent away for treatment for some form of mental illness. Maybe he didn't do anything to hurt Ali, maybe he really was sent away for positive reasons — but as we've grown acquainted with Radley over the years, it's pretty clear that that place would do a person more harm than good. Imagine being yanked from the cushy DiLaurentis home and stuck into Radley for around 17 years... there's even more revenge-fodder for the torture-happy Charles, eh?

As Spencer so eloquently put it, "That's what Charles really wanted to do to us in that dollhouse. Make us feel alone forever. Isolated." We're not sure of the details yet (and we likely won't be until we get to Episode 10), but the treatment the girls got in the dollhouse is definitely insight into Charles' dark past — did he feel "alone forever" and "isolated" when he was taken away from his nuclear family? Signs point to yes... and he's not going to let us forget it any time soon (even if he's dead, which, let's face it — he's probably not).

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