Originally Posted by
PsychoEFrost
It was interesting that editorial pulled that move. Death in comics tends to not hold very much weight. If an important character dies, there's a good chance we'll see them alive again at some point, and for many novice Marvel readers, Jean personified this. So it was a massive subversion of expectation to have her death go on as long as it did (with the caveat that she was obviously pulling a few strings from the WHR).
There are two theories for that.
1) Jean was the heart of the X-Men, and losing her made everyone else lose their way, leading into the eventual Schism.
2) The interpersonal problems of the team were too severe, and Jean was the only one who managed to keep things level.
Either way, hard not to say that her being gone only made the interpersonal problems of the team worse.