Link is the recurring hero. He come from all walks of life and ends up saving his world. He doesn't really have a strong character as he doesn't talk, link is you, the player.
Zelda is also a reccuring princess, each game is set in a different 'age', the villain Ganondorf, who later turns into ganon, is always the same guy, pestering the lands, losing to one link, coming back stronger, losing to another link, etc. It is a perpetual cycle. Whenever evil in the form of ganon arises, a new hero in the form of link (you) arises to fight it back.
Ocarina of time shows us the origin of Ganondorf. The minish cap occurs WAY before this era, the windwaker way after this era.
Each game is chronologically connected in the greater scheme of things, sometimes timelines branch, due to the power of the ocarina of time, that split the eras into two different time-space continuums.
Twilight princess occurs after ocarina of time in one branching timeline, windwaker in another, majoras mask, featuring the same link as from ocarina of time, occurs in another dimension immediately after ocarina of time.
Zelda is always descended from the same princess before her, hyrule is always there but changes form due to the huge amounts of time thus geological upheavals between each era, and link also descends from every other link before him in all prior eras.
The only elements that are always the same in all games, that survive all the ages are; Ganon, the triforce, the land of hyrule itself(which may change appearance due to natural phenomena) and the master sword.
Everything else is re-born, re-created etc.
Gangans
I agree with everything you've said except the branching timelines bit. I'm not saying that you're wrong, but it is open to interpretation. Ganon's dialogue in Twilight Princess makes direct references to Ocarina of Time. The Wind Waker makes direct references to Ocarina of Time. I believe that Twilight Princess falls between Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker. The struggle that took place between Link, Zelda and Ganon in Twilight Princess was not referenced to in Wind Waker, but it still fits in. It is highly probable that not many were aware of the struggle between Ganon and Link in the Twilight Princess, since the people of Hyrule town even seemed unaware of what was really going on inside Hyrule Castle. According to interviews in old issues of EGM, Twilight Princess takes place roughly 200 years after Ocarina, while Wind Waker takes place about 400 years after Ocarina.
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