What Are Unicorn Horns Made Of?

[Steve Piranha 29,496]

Maybe they're made of bone, but they flop for the sake of cartoon comedy  . Or they're made of the same material as our nails, but not sure how durable they might be

[twiia 1,843]

Probably made of keratin or chitin, or alicorn (yeah its an actual thing)

[ph00tbag 108]

Traditional mythology holds that Unicorn horns are made of a substance known as Alicorn. The crazy thing is, people actually had things they would sell off, calling them Alicorn. Obviously, since Unicorns do not actually exist in our world, these things could not have come from one. Instead, it turns out they were narwhal teeth. So, strictly speaking, Alicorn is a combination of dentine, enamel, cementum, and other toothy stuff.

 

Anatomically, it seems odd that a structure made of enamel would form on the forehead of any animal, even a Unicorn. There's just no reason a Unicorn horn would need to be that hard (enamel is far and away the hardest substance the vertebrate body builds, and given its tendency not to use it anywhere else, and not to replace any enamel that is lost, my suspicion is that it is metabolically expensive to create. Therefore, my suspicion is that it's much more mundane. Instead, I expect that it is made of the same stuff as any other horn: a layer of keratin over bone. In the case of Unicorns, I suspect there is also some form of organ that translates nerve impulses into magical energy that is focused through the keratin of the horn. In fact, I suspect that keratin in general has unique magic-focusing properties, and that Unicorn horns have a particularly specialized keratinous structure. This explains how ponies can lift things with their hooves (which are made of keratin), how Pegasus ponies can fly on their wings (feathers are made of keratin), and how Earth ponies can hold things with their manes and tails (hair is... well, you get the picture). 

[Phosphorous 136]

I think it's definitely covered by the pony's fur. Because they have the same position in all ponies, it has to be structurally anchored to the skull. It can't be like nails, which can sink lower because of weight.

[Twilight Frost 271]

Its made of bone, just like antlers are. 

[FanOfManyShows 398]

The horns don't contain bone just cartilage and a magical substance the name of which is Alicorn. alicorn's (the species) horns are longer to allow more of the substance to appear in the horn, allowing for more magic to be stored than in a unicorn's horn. the magic in the horn slowly builds up over time, and slowly deposits its magic if there is too much there are also nerves that run throughout the horn to stimulate the substance into releasing the magic that has stored. this though, is entirely head cannon.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Frannis

[cmarston1 5,962]

They are made out of magic.

[Leave a Whisper 703]

Keratin like a rhino's horn.

[JeyWiz 1,097]

In my opinion, unicorn horns are bones just like the rest of the skeleton. They just have some kind of opening that leads into their brain that releases some kind of magical force through their horns. That's just my theory.

[Azureth 687]

I heard it was really an elongated tooth.

[Rainbow Dash 1,473]

Either cartilage that grows when the magic gene is dominant in the foal, or bone. Whenever I see background ponies I look at their features and sometimes I notice a broken horned unicorn. Idk if it's animation error or what, but by the way the cracks are it seems it's made up of bone.

 

When unicorns break their horn, I think they can no longer use their magic. So I'm thinking the horn is a bone that was put their for unicorns as a catalyst for their magic...(or a wand on their head if you wanna put it that way) to draw the magic to the horn and make it concentrated...and the horn is actually connected directly to the brain...idk, now I'm

Rambling