Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26967699-20160817210904/@comment-24674051-20160818174208

Ok, I'll have to agree that a lot of Regina's motivation is Plot driven.

But let's look at Regina and see of we can coerce the randomness to make some sense.

Much of Regina's motivation was really more focused on removing validation from Snow as and effective leader, trying to make her appear incapable. Sure, there was a part of her that wanted to inflict physical pain on Snow for her part in what happened with Daniel, but Regina was practical enough to know that killing Snow would not have given her the position she wanted. Prior to Leopold's death, had Snow died, then it would have been expected for Leopold and Regina to produce a new heir. and I don't think the situation between Leopold and Regina would ever have led to the production of a new heir. So Regina settled on looking for ways to discredit Snow.

Once Leopold was gone (thanks to the convenient appearance of the genie), Regina stepped up her efforts to remove Snow, but still wanted to do it in a way that did not turn the people against her. Again, she was generally practical, up until the attempt with the Huntsman. That is what put Regina in the no win situation, and from that moment until she was captured and almost executed, She was at war with Snow. After her stay of execution and the attempt on Snow's life rendered it impossible for Regina to harm Snow in the EF, Regina reverted to the causing pain and removing happiness approach (with a side benefit of moving them to a land where she could kill Snow, should the need arise).

So really, Regina's goal was to become the ruler of the EF (or at least Snow's portion of that realm) and win the adoration of the people, while stealing Snow White's happiness along the way. As long as the second goal of the peoples adoration was possible, killing Snow was off the table. Once it became clear that she would never have the people's love, killing Snow became an option, but it was still just a means of gaining control of the kingdom and ruling.