Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-26116863-20161101012324/@comment-25375217-20161101025100

The Evil Queen thrives on chaos, despair, and suffering. After accepting that no one would ever love her, it's basically all she had left, so she eventually learned to appreciate it and now she has to cause it in order to survive, basically.

So yes, she could totally teleport Snow White into a volcano and be done with it. But wouldn't it be much more fun to watch Snow White's twu wuv betray her and get himself killed, leaving her to die from sadness? Wouldn't it be much more fun to watch her get angry at her daughter for betraying and lying to her, resulting in said daughter's magic going crazy again and killing everyone? Wouldn't it be much more fun to watch her go crazy about trying in vain to stop a mysterious... wait, am I allowed to post spoilers here? Whatever, you get the point.

We have consistently seen the Evil Queen go for the plan that would cause the most suffering, sorrow, and humiliation for Snow White and whatever other targets she has. Even Regina did in Season 2; when almost literally given Snow White's heart on a platter, she chose to let Snow live with the darkness inside of her instead of just killing her while she had the chance.