Originally Posted by
Harpsikord
The problem with Rachel is the fact that she is derivative and was always intended that way; it's the same case for Madelyne Pryor. He would never admit it but it feels like the only reason Claremont created and/or put these characters in significant roles when he did is because he didn't have access to Jean Grey anymore; his original intention was to lobotomize Jean and let her live as a normal human away from the X-Men with Cyclops, presumably so that the so-called toy would still be in the toy box in order for him to play with it later when he felt like it. But he was told no, and so first, he brought in Madelyne, who looked identical to Jean and acted incredibly similar to her and that was all supposed to be coincidental, in order to give Cyclops the "happy ending" that he wanted for him at the time. And then when he wanted to write more stories with the Phoenix character, he brought in Rachel as his stand-in for Jean. There never was anything truly original to her.
Claremont and his later writing partner Alan Davis are the only characters that have really tried to do interesting things with her, and outside of maybe some of the stuff that they did with her in Excalibur, largely didn't do anything that really made her... unique. There was nothing of unique value added to Rachel outside of the fact that she was a Hound and unfortunately I think that's exactly why Marc Guggenheim tried to make her a little more definitively herself, but in doing so only managed to devalue her character to the point that fans of other characters don't care to see her anymore and the writers may see her as toxic.
Rachel desperately needs to be given some kind of identity of her own before she can be seen as viable, and the way that Brisson wrote her off unceremoniously definitely isn't the way that it should be done, but maybe it's a start. Give Rachel a break or allow her to be a hound for a little while longer and then play on that. When she comes back to her senses, have a writer discover who Rachel is POSITIVELY. Have Rachel discover HERSELF positively.
Ideally in relation to Jean they'd have a great relationship with one another when all of this is said and done. Let them talk about why Jean didn't try to save her in a moment. Give Rachel some closure over her mommy issues. Let Jean establish that she does care for Rachel - as she should, even if it's different than how she cares for Nate and maybe even kind of awkward due to the fact that Rachel came into Jean's life as a fully grown adult.
There's so much potential there but honestly no one at Marvel seems to have both the talent AND the interest. One or the other, not both.