One of the things that I noticed when Regina went to Wonderland and was talking about the Queen of Hearts was that she seemed to be talking about her with an annoyance in her voice – not in a manner I would expect her to be speaking if she were talking about her mother. I think she feared her mother when she was young and then hated her when she was older. I don’t think there was ever a time where she was simply annoyed by her.
To be annoyed with someone I think you have to be either their equivalent in terms in status but have them challenging your position, or they need to be someone who is simply constantly driving you crazy. To me it would make sense that the Queen of Hearts is annoying to Regina because they are both queens and both want to be the most powerful in the land. It makes me wonder if maybe the Queen of Hearts was Maleficent. Kind of a frenemy situation going on.
But I’m confused on the whole elephant thing myself. They did clearly want her to look like an elephant.