Origin
The Red Queen is a bit confusing, in the original story she’s often at war with the White Queen, being at odds due to their statuses being references to chess pieces, similar to how the previous queen was a playing card.
In certain versions of the story, The Red Queen is said or believed to be the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, however in the original version of it, that is at no point stated, although nothing goes against it either.
Creation
The Red Queen was created by Lewis Carroll for the sequel novel to Alice In Wonderland, called Through The Looking Glass And Alice Found There from 1871. The Red Queen was intended to be a carbon copy of the then popular Queen of Hearts, who was killed off in the previous book.
Character Evolution
Due to her similarities to The Queen of Hearts, she can often be mistaken for her or simply removed to make way for The Queen of Hearts, an example of this is Disney’s live action depiction of Looking Glass, where the Red Queen is replaced by The Queen of Hearts.
Other Versions
Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
In the short lived spin-off series to ABC’s Once Upon A Time, The Red Queen is the main villain of the first and only season, this was because the Queen of Hearts was already killed off in the main series.
The Red Queen is named Anastasia, with show runners confirming her connection to Cinderella, being slightly based off one of her step sisters. Anastasia was trained in magic by the Queen of Hearts, and taught how to use it become a better ruler of her people.
However despite her villainous actions in the series, and her constant feuds with Alice, she is eventually redeemed, taking on the name the White Queen, making her based off three fairy tale characters; The Red Queen, Cinderella’s evil step-sister and The White Queen. She was played by Emma Rigby.