Why Spirit Tracks Saved the Timeline

For the record: no, this is not going to be a soapbox about how the New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks proves that ultimately the classic games will fall on the Adult Timeline after all. Neither will it be an exposé on how we now know for sure that the Deku Tree definitely connected all of the islands we saw from The Wind Waker to form said Hyrule. (Although do expect a follow-up to my original article about New Hyrule which suggested exactly that.)

In fact, this is not going to be a continuity theory at all. Instead, it is a reflection on how the expression of the series' continuity has evolved, from past to present, and taken on a completely new life in Spirit Tracks.