Did Pretty Little Liars’ Hanna Marin Poke the Bear, or Did the Bear Poke Her?

Hanna Marin has repeatedly shown herself to be the most developed of the liars over Pretty Little Liars’ six seasons.

She’s made huge sacrifices, betting on herself and her friends, repeatedly, and blossoming from “Hefty Hanna,” Alison’s doll in season one, to the strong, independent woman she is in the show’s current season.

In the flashbacks that took place before the show’s timeline, Hanna was a pawn in Alison’s life story. She was hefty Hanna, one of the outcasts that Alison took under her wing to become her clone. Alison ruthlessly tormented and teased Hanna over her weight, as we eventually delve deeper into Hanna’s eating disorder and the emotions behind it in season one, as ‘-A’ forces her to relive it.

Hanna: Alison, you were the best friend I ever had, and that meant a lot to me. You meant a lot to me. But you were also the worst enemy I ever had, and I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that.

Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars found Hanna as the reformed loser, along with her best friend, Mona Vanderwaal, another of Alison’s tormented. She channeled her inner Alison after her disappearance, adapting to the advice her friend always gave her to become popular. It meant much more to Hanna then than it did in any other season. She fought so hard to stay on top, but it was only a matter of time before ‘-A’ dragged her down.

Once the town turned against her, popularity mattered less and less to Hanna. She didn’t care anymore, being popular was her way of keeping Alison alive. Her and her friends were the girls who cried wolf, the girls that lied about Ian Thomas’ death after trying to frame him for murder.

This was new territory for Hanna, because now she was really an outcast. She didn’t have Alison’s friendship to prop her up anymore, and it was her and her friends against the world. Her growth throughout this season started early, in Season 2 Episode 4, “Blind Dates,” where Hanna sees the girls’ therapist and finally deals with the ghost of DiLaurentis past.

Hanna’s journey in Season 2 can be summed up into one concept: self-acceptance. She had never looked in the mirror and been okay with how she looked. Alison held her back from loving herself, even in death, and Dr. Sullivan gave Hanna a way to finally confront this setback.

As the show weaved through seasons three and four, Hanna became someone else during her senior year. She embodied everything of her past with an air of confidence, but she also channeled the strength that helped her survive Alison’s torment. Learning that Mona, her best friend, was the person stalking them, the one who hit her with a car, should’ve torn her apart, but instead, she grew.

She even visited Mona in Radley Sanitarium, often. Shortly afterward, Charlotte (as A) framed her mother, Ashley Marin, for Detective Wilden’s murder, though she was acquitted, because, well… she didn’t do it. Charlotte did.

Hanna’s courage was what got her through Season 5, when Alison reappeared. Hanna was displaced, unable to cope with Alison’s return, because in a way, Hanna had taken her place. Thanks to Mona. Hanna went through a drinking phase with black streaks, those were not a good look, and as Charlotte attacked, her life fell apart. She was thrown into prison as Alison’s conspirator in Mona’s apparent murder, only released as Charlotte kidnapped the girls.

We still don’t know what special form of torture Charlotte delivered to Hanna in the underground bunker, but it was obviously clear that it related to the girls’ first secrets, so it is likely that it involved her binge-eating and bulimia. Nonetheless, Hanna came out of that bunker ready for revenge. It was never a game to her, even less so as season six premiered.

Hanna: You have been such a bitch to us, but we heard your story. We understand.

Hanna wasn’t able to give Charlotte her forgiveness, rightfully so, but she gave her understanding instead. Personally, I don’t understand that choice. Hanna was tormented worse than any of the girls, rivaled only by Spencer’s levels of torture, but even so, Spencer was tormented much more by Mona than Charlotte. It always seemed Charlotte disliked Hanna the most. But maybe that’s just how much Hanna has grown.

The final episodes of Season 6 left Hanna in immediate peril, after she falsely confessed to killing Charlotte. She took one for the team, to protect her friends, and make sure no one else would get hurt after -A almost put the nail in Alison’s coffin, for real this time.

None of the other girls were brave enough, or courageous enough, to put an end to A-moji, their new über stalker. But Hanna was. We all know that she won’t die after being kidnapped, but she risked her life, and almost sacrificed herself, to protect everyone she loves. She’s always been the girl who stood by her friends, but never like this.

-A changed her life, as did Alison. They both showed her who she didn’t want to be, and what she didn’t ever want to feel like again. Alison gave her friendship, but showed how it could be taken away in an instance. –A showed her what it was like to lose everything you love, and how to hold on to everything you love the most.

Pretty Little Liars returns for Season 7 this summer on Freeform!