What Does This Mean?
A tangle of contradictions in a long-running fictional continuity, where facts from different episodes, books, sequels or retcons no longer fit together. It describes the knot of conflicts rather than a single error.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""After three reboots and a time-travel retcon, the timeline is a total continuity snarl.""
LORE & ORIGIN
The term is TV Tropes vocabulary built from the ordinary words "continuity" and "snarl" (a tangle). Wikipedia's article on retroactive continuity describes how long-running fiction accumulates discontinuities and how retcons are one way writers try to resolve them, which is the background for the term. No dated first use of the exact phrase is documented. It is broader than a single plot hole and is not the same as a retcon, which is one attempted fix.
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