Della was a bit of a cypher, even if her implied sexual abuse followed by her murder was very unavoidably sad in of itself, which is why her death did not stick in my head as much as the so many other women and male sidekicks that got killed who were fleshed out more. The weird death of the pompous Saunders by sabotaged sheet glass doors got to me more.
^In both cases a lot of it comes down to Dalton's reaction, especially over Saunders, the look in his eyes when he pops the balloon... Craig may be harder, and colder, but if there's one 007 In wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of it's Dalton.
That certainly became apparent in License to Kill where he burned his bridges with MI6 to get back at Della's killers (a sprawling, powerful crime syndicate).