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Why You Still Shouldn't Trust Noel Kahn On 'PLL'

by Kelly Schremph

The number one rule of watching Pretty Little Liars is that you do not trust anyone on Pretty Little Liars. I mean, it says it right there in the title, folks. So no matter how much we've grown to love these characters over the past six seasons, most of them simply cannot — under any circumstances — be trusted. Does this sound like the ramblings of a crazy, paranoid person? I don't know. You'd have to ask my shrink over at Radley about that one. However, I will admit that some characters warrant more suspicion than others. Just take Aria's ex-flame, Noel Kahn, for example. This guy has always seemed super shady since Day 1 and even though I highly doubt that Noel is actually Charles DiLaurentis, I do believe that he's been a vital member of the A Team throughout all these years. In fact, there's a good chance that Noel could be PLL 's Uber A.

What makes me say such a thing, you may ask? Well, for starters, it's kinda strange how his interest in Aria just so happened to coincide with when A came into the picture. As we know from Season 1, Aria had a major crush on Noel before heading off to Iceland, but he never really seemed to give her the time of day. So what caused him to suddenly be so interested when she returned? I suppose you could simply explain it away with the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" schtick. But what if it was less about matters of the heart and more about a secret mission he'd been assigned by A?

Perhaps his job was to keep track of Aria's whereabouts and learn as much about her as possible. After all, he was the one who discovered she was having a relationship with Ezra. And what did he do with said knowledge? He wrote a creepy message for them to find on Ezra's car window. I wonder where he could've learned such a stalkerish scare tactic from…

Then there's the fact that he's had close relationships with people that have been very much apart of the A circuit (i.e. Mona and Jenna). We know Mona was once (and maybe still is) a member of the A Team. Jenna's role in it all remains a little less clear, but she certainly had some juicy dirt on the Liars during the whole "Jenna Thing." A would've wanted one of his minions close to Jenna for further intel and dating her would be the best way to go about doing so.

It's also worth mentioning that Noel's older brother, Eric, went to school with CeCe Drake and looks to be around the same age that Charles would be. Perhaps the two of them once knew each other, so Eric recruited his younger brother to do Charles' bidding. From the little bit we do know about Eric, he's expressed an interest in knowing everyone's secrets. I've always written that character trait off as nothing more than a personal hobby that allows him to gain leverage on his fellow peers. But maybe he's actually doing it for a friend.

And let's not forget that Noel has always been present for several crucial moments throughout the show —like when Hanna got hit by a car and Ian's death occurred. Granted, there were also a ton of other people around during those times as well, but I've learned that such appearances can't just be taken as mere coincidences. He may not have always been the perpetrator of these acts, but he may have been overseeing them as part of his Uber A responsibilities to make sure everything went according to plan.

Of course, I'm sure some of you may be tempted to argue that Noel's true allegiance is to Alison since he was helping her hide out when she was on the run. But who's to say that wasn't all part of A's plan? By having Noel act like her friend and ally, A was able to keep tabs on her without giving up too much of his time normally dedicated to tormenting the Liars. (After all, the sign of a good leader is knowing when to delegate.)

Oh, and isn't Noel's family really, really rich? We may have finally uncovered the source to A's financial backing.

For more A theories, check out Bustle's latest PLL podcast below:

And for a good laugh, check out how these non-PLL watchers attempted to describe the series, who exactly A is, and so much more!

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