Ailia’s history is as unknown as her future. All that is known of her origins has been derived from the account of her foster-brother, Glorfindel Ingold. The story goes that, shortly after the destruction of Gondolin and the survivors having fled to the Mouths of the Sirion, that it chanced Glorfindel was wandering in the wide woodlands near that place. Upon this venture he chanced upon he young elf girl, asleep against a tree. Her attire was nothing more than filthy rags, and judging by thin state of her form, she had been sometime in the wild.
Two points about her, struck the elven lord as odd. The first was the child’s hair, for it was of such a pure blonde that it seemed to illuminate that dreary clearing. Never had Glorfindel known such hair among any of the elven kindreds, save one, the Lady Galadriel. For her golden locks were of her Vanyar descent. Could this child be of that kin? The second was rather more obvious, in her left hand she held a sword of such unusual design, Glorfindel had never seen the likes of it before. He should have stopped to question these signs more, but it was perilous to linger in those lonely wild places in those evil times when Morgoth’s power was great. So it became that Glorfindel took the children back to the Mouths of the Sirion with him, and entrusted her to the keeping of her mother, Saimlia Ingold.
In time the child grew up in the care of the Sindarian elf, and came to love her as a daughter should love a mother. It was not until she had reached half a century (for she was near this age when Glorfindel found her) that she would divulge her name to Saimlia, Ailia. Now there is no meaning for such a name in the tongues of Middle-earth, and time and time again Saimlia would ply her son with questions about the forbidden Noldorian tongue. However Glorfindel could not, or would not divulge any such information.
As she grew, Ailia took great joy in her dwellings by the Sirion, and delighted in hearing the stories of the Noldor and Sindar of Nargathrond, Gondolin and Doriath. On her brother’s occasional visits she would lean attentively on his every word, hearing of his experiences and battles. However Glorfindel was scarcely around, for King Gil-galad kept him busy with many errands.
Ere long though Ailia’s sheltered life with Saimlia came to an end, for the sons of Feanor raised the settlement at the Mouths of the Sirion to the ground, in search of the third Silmaril. As has already been told, Saimlia was cruelly murdered by the attacking Noldor and her death plagued Glorfindel for many long years. Ailia escaped the battle and now went with her adoptive brother to the court of Gil-galad on the Isle of Balar. She did not linger long here, for the lands of Beleriand were torn asunder in the War of Wrath, and the elven survivors fled to Eriador and mainland Middle-earth.
It was at this time that Glorfindel revealed to Ailia all he guessed of her past, that he believed her to be a Vanyar, one of the golden elves from beyond the Sundering Seas. All this served to do was to conjure up more questions in the mind of Ailia, and eventually she parted company with her brother and set off out into Middle-earth to seek answers for herself. Throughout the Second and Third Ages she wandered, ever seeking the answers to the riddle of her life. She stayed in touch with her brother, but otherwise remained apart from the events of Middle-earth.
Now in the Fourth Age she has returned to her brother and has found herself embroiled in the centre of a highly volatile affair. Only time will tell if Ailia Ingold can come through it unscathed.