Tirith Aear, also called the Seaward Tower or Sea-ward Tower, was a tower situated in or near Dol Amroth.
In a poem recorded in the Red Book of Westmarch, a single "slow bell" that was "high in the Seaward Tower" rang solemnly at an "unseemly hour" to announce "the news of" the Man in the Moon's "moonsick cruise" aboard "a fisherman's boat" in the Bay of Belfalas.
Etymology
Tirith Aear is a Sindarin name meaning "sea watch" that consists of the words tĭrith ("look-out, gaze, regard; await, expect; watching, guarding; watch, ward, guard"), derived from the root TIR ("to look at towards, watch, watch over") and the abstract noun -th ("-ing"), and a soft-mutation of gaear ("Great Sea; sea; ocean"), a derivative of the root AYAR ("sea").
In other versions
In the first version of The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon, The Man in the Moon's arrival in Norwich town was announced by "the city's fifty towers", referring to the many churches in the city. This was changed in the "second professional typescript" to "the city's ringing towers".. These "ringing towers" are identified by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull as St Peter Mancroft, a parish church in the center of Norwich. In a subsequent typescript, Tolkien changed the line to "in tall St. Peter’s tower". In 1961, Tolkien changed the line to "high in the Seaward Tower" and wrote the names Tirith Aear and the Sea-ward Tower in the preface.
In adaptations
InMiddle-earth Role Playing
In a 1996 module for the Middle-earth Role Playing game, the Sea-ward Tower is conceived to have been constructed as a refuge for the Elves of Edhellond by the Sinda Lord Amroth, between SA 1600 and SA 1620. It is also said to have been used by Galadriel, who installed "a huge bronze bell in its highest chamber" in TA 1. A full layout of the tower is provided in a supplement.
InThe Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
In a card set, "A Storm on Corbas Haven", for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, there is a card depicting an illustration of the Sea-ward Tower by Michael Rasmussen.