So horns-by which I mean the instrument-are a minor but notable part of the Green Ember world. Lord Rake had a special horn for ceremonies and battle signals at Cloud Mountain. The Terralain army sounded horns as they charged into battle at Halfwind Citadel. And Airen’s snoring, according to her daughter Weezie, resembles “a battle horn plunged underwater”.
There are probably other references in the Green Ember, Tales of Old Natalia, and Green Ember Archer as well. It’s not really surprising, as horns are a pretty common facet of medieval fantasy type series. The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and others have featured them. However, there is one thing that has struck me about horns in the Green Ember being a bit of an oddity.
As folks are most likely aware, horns-the instrument-are called such because way back in the day they were fashioned from horns-the animal body part. Boromir’s horn from The Lord of the Rings, for example, was made from the horn of a wild ox hunted by one of his ancestors, if memory serves. However, this raises a question: where would rabbits get horns from? They don’t hunt animals for food, and even if they did we’re aware of no horned animals in the Green Ember world.
And if, for some reason, the rabbits just naturally developed the metal or wood instruments that we call horns, why do they call them horns?
Personally I sort of assumed the rabbits, wolves and birds were the only ones, as well as the dragons of course, however in the first book several small birds are mentioned: Wilfred uses a sparrow's call to tell Smalls and Picket where he is, Picket has a dream about riding around on a blind cardinal, etc. Heather also mentioned turtles at one point: "Last one to [the berry grove, I can't remember what it's called] is a turtle!" So maybe there are other animals living somewhere in Natalia.