A lot of assumptions there for someone who was questioning the amount of assumptions I was making... so let's go back to some facts.
There are two separate species of Zora which may or may not be related, so there could easily be two separate species of Rito.
The reptilian River Zora would...
There's no more evidence to support those assumptions than there are to support the ones I was suggesting.
The only reason to assume that the Rito were still evolving in WW would be to make it fit with BotW.
Being able to breathe underwater alone is not enough for them to survive in the Great...
It's assuming a lot to think that the WW Rito are the same as the BotW Rito as well.
The Rito and Zora have never coexisted before... it is implied that the Zora went extinct when they evolved into the Rito in the WW timeline.
The Rito in WW don't get their wings until they reach adulthood, and...
It depends on the origin of the Rito... just because they evolved from the Zora in the WW timeline does not mean they have to have that same origin in every timeline... BotW doesn't appear to make any connections between the two races, so it's possible the they're unrelated in this timeline.
While it's not confirmed, it is extremely unlikely, seeing as Hyrule was washed away at the end of Wind Waker, and New Hyrule was established by the time of Sprit Tracks... the chance of Hyrule being restored with no evidence of New Hyrule being carried over is slim at best.
Plus, the rock salt...
Downfall doesn't make sense because of the Zora monuments describing events that only occurred in the adult and possibly child timelines.
And just because it doesn't take place in the Wind Waker timeline does not necessarily mean that it doesn't take place in an adult timeline... a number of us...
I've been thinking on a similar line to this since last summer, but I don't think whether or not Link went back in time is what caused the fourth timeline... the lore seems to imply that there would have been a Link during the events that led to the Great Flood either way, and the WW backstory...