Trying to pick the top 10 favorite characters on Pretty Little Liars is like picking which of your children you love the most. Contrary to what some parents may think, we all have our favorite. Maybe it's the one who listens, the one who gets nothing but straight As, or the one who looks most like us. Either way, there is a favorite.
With the Pretty Little Liars cast so diverse, it came down to who offered the most where the storyline was concerned. While each individual on this list had their top moments, only one shined the brightest.
Here are the top 10 characters of Pretty Little Liars.
Aria Montgomery
Aria's place in Pretty Little Liars history will always go down as confusing. There were moments where she played tight and cases where she was just lost.
But still, A or AD could never turn their back on Ms. Montgomery. What has fans a bit mixed on Aria was her loyalty. Instead of standing up to AD, she let the mystery person use weak evidence against her family and forced Aria to turn on her friends.
Caleb Rivers
Caleb literally came out of nowhere and changed the girl's lives. For Hanna, he became her peace. As one of the three male figures on the show, Caleb was also a shoulder the girls could use as well as a brain to help them find, fight, and escape the notorious "A." Although it took a while for the Liars to come around, they learned that Caleb was one they could trust and turn to. His love for technology was a big plus but so was his desire to run into situations head-first if he felt trouble was brewing.
Hanna Marin
At times, it's tough to describe Hanna's importance to Pretty Little Liars. She started off as the girl who wanted to be with the in-crowd so badly, so was willing to let Alison treat her worse than what she saw herself. When rejected, she ed Mona as a twosome and their friendship blossomed into something great.
By the end of the show, Hanna became one of the "it girls" but also was able to carve her own path to success and popularity by being her own person. Once considered weak, she became strong. Once viewed as having low self-esteem, she found out all she needed was the type of connection that came by being loved for who she was.
Jenna Marshall
Despite not being one of the "main" characters on the show, Jenna was just as important as "A" or one of the Liars. Her presence offered fear. Even blind, the girls were afraid of Jenna. Her constant torture of Toby gave the original story (before A) much more reason to understand the evilness that was happening in Rosewood. Jenna didn't want to be the villain, it just happened to go down that way. And she was great at it.
Spencer Hastings
Labeled as the brain's of the Liars, Spencer often did too much thinking when action was needed. Alison was the leader of the crew but in her absence, Spencer took it upon herself to take that mantle.
Her home life was a disaster as parents didn't get along, sister hated her, and she learned she had a secret brother, mother, and twin. In the beginning, it was all about Alison and Charlotte's revenge but the show, if you look closely, focused on Spencer.
Emily Fields
Arguably, Emily is the character who grew the most over the years. In the beginning, Emily was timid and scared of her own shadow. But one thing she always knew was her love for Alison was real. Em was a follower but having to deal with some of life's realities forced her to see the world for what it was and not what she wanted it to be.
Emily was really never that shoulder for others to lean on but when one of them needed her, she was there. Emily gave Pretty Little Liars fans something to believe in as we watched her grow, mature, take on everything that came her way, and in the end, she walked away with the girl of her dreams.
Mona Vanderwaal
No matter how you view Spencer, or how she views herself, there is no way she was the smartest on the show. That title belongs to Mona Vanderwaal. Without Mona, "A" would still be terrorizing the Liars. But did Mona deserve to be trusted? No. Her approach to helping always rubbed the girls the wrong way and the only one to truly had her back was Hanna. Mona deceived the girls too many times as the original "A" and also a helper to A.D. but she did whatever she could to make it up.
Her knowledge, research, and unwillingness to let either Alison, "A" or A.D. get the best of her is was made Mona's presence important to Pretty Little Liars. She refused to be beaten at a game she helped invent. All she ever wanted was to be accepted into the group.
Alison DiLaurentis
Great minds are hard to come by. Alison was the "mean girl," the one has started trouble and arched as everyone's life burned down because of her. She didn't care who she hurt, as long as she wasn't affected. People wanted revenge but were scared to take action. But then "A" came along and changed the game.
What made Alison so unique was that she was seen as brainless, when in fact, her mind was her most powerful weapon. While some thought she hated her small crew of friends, it was actually Alison who cared for them more than they cared for her.
A.D.
If you think Charlotte played games, what A.D. had in mind was straight murder. Not letting anyone in on what she looked like was a stroke of genius. Viewers had no idea if she was male or female but A.D. had an approach that should go down in Primetime TV history. Her storyline was one set on revenge but it was how she planned it all out that left viewers in shock
Charlotte wanted to play a game of "look what I can do". She was close to the Liars on numerous occasions but A.D., she played head games that was so thoroughly thought out, that even what we thought to be a dream, turned out to be a horrific reality. As for the reveal, it worked so good that even the smartest of the Liars (Spencer) thought she lost her mind.
Charlotte ('A')
The reason Charlotte gets the nod as the best character on Pretty Little Liars is simple. Name another person who did more than her. What other character had an entire town in the palm of her hand and changed faces so many times it kept fans guessing for the betterment of seven years? Charlotte was that good.
Although she's not technically a Liar, she raised and molded them. Charlotte forced the mean girl out of town. Made the other Liars face their own demons, broke up marriages, killed off threats, and then still made the others feel pity for her in the end. There was no one better. Charlotte was the ultimate villain.