[Ginkasa]

It wasn't so clear back in the day. The back story behind Link from the original LoZ and AoL is pretty sparse, so it wouldn't have been too out of the question for him to have been retconned as a pre-existing hero when ALttP came out.

The whole single vs. multiple Link theories was the big argument of the day around the time OoT came out. Most people caught on by then, so the argument soon transitioned into single vs. split timelines.

I don't follow it so much now, but at the time I bowed out the whole timeline theorizing thing was swamped with people trying to out do each other with crazy theories and making connections based on the flimsiest of evidence. It kept the conversation going, I guess, but it was no longer about trying to suss out the "real" timeline which is what what got me interested in the first place.