Mu Nianci and Qin Nanqin
The Mu Nianci in the latest revision of The Legend of the Condor Heroes is actually an amalgam of the original character of Mu and another character called Qin Nanqin (秦南琴). In the first edition, Mu is Yang Kang's love interest but is not Yang Guo's mother. Qin lives with her grandfather and they catch snakes for a living. She develops a crush on Guo Jing after he saves her. However Qin is raped by Yang Kang and Mu arrives too late to stop him. Qin becomes pregnant and gives birth to Yang Guo and thereafter becomes a nun and travels with Mu before settling down to raise her child. After Yang Kang was poisoned, Mu performs a coup de grâce on him and commits suicide to join him in death. Qin later also dies after being bitten by a snake but she entrusts her son to Guo Jing before dying. Jin Yong felt that Qin Nanqin's role was unnecessary so he merged the characters of Mu and Qin as one in later editions.
Read more about this topic: Mu Nianci