History Main / CrownOfHorns

* Secondary wives of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs wore circlets adorned with the horned heads of ibex and gazelle, symbolizing their grace and beauty. Great Wives wore a tall crown consisting of a pair of cow's horns cradling a solar disk, and embelished with ostrich plumes and as many ureaii (cobra heads) as could be fitted on. Only the gods know how the poor woman kept all that balanced on her head.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: [[Characters/MCULoki Loki]] wears a very ostentatious horned helmet. In ''Film/{{Thor}}'', it's both a status and ceremonial symbol, like a crown or coronet, indicating his rank as a prince of Asgard. In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', it represents his ambition to seize Earth and preside over it as its God-King. The helmet is absent in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' because he was disowned by Odin, and therefore Loki has been stripped of his royal rank. It returns in the third act of ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', after Odin has reclaimed Loki as his son, and Loki has decided to rescue Asgard from Hela's blood-soaked reign--he is once again a prince of Asgard. Intriguingly, his helmet in this movie is more crown-like than in the past because it doesn't cover the top or the lower part of his head, and thus it's more ornamental than his previous ones, which were more practical for battle.

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, as in the comics, Loki wears a very ostentatious horned helmet. It's implied in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' to be ceremonial and a status symbol, like a crown or coronet, indicating his rank as a prince. Each male member of the royal family has his own unique helmet design, and the princes notably ''don't'' wear the helmets when they go out expecting to actually get in a fight.

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', House Baratheon is the royal house at the time the series begins. Baratheon kings tend to wear crowns referencing the stag of their heraldry (except Stannis, who is notably crownless). Examples include Robert, Joffrey (whose crown has stylized stag antlers) and Renly (pictured). After the [[spoiler:death of his eldest brother Robert]], [[MightMakesRight Renly]] declares himself the rightful king, ahead of his "nephew" Joffrey and older brother Stannis. Renly's antler crown is a valuable means to create an image of legitimacy.

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', House Baratheon is the royal house at the time the series begins. Baratheon kings tend to wear crowns referencing the stag of their heraldry (except Stannis, who is notably crownless). Examples include Robert, Joffrey and Renly (pictured). After the [[spoiler:death of his eldest brother Robert]], [[MightMakesRight Renly]] declares himself the rightful king, ahead of his "nephew" Joffrey and older brother Stannis. Renly's antler crown is a valuable means to create an image of legitimacy.

* Mola Ram, who leads the ReligionOfEvil in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', wears one of these. It's made from a cow's skull, which is blasphemous in UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} (a religion that reveres cattle), just to hammer home the point that Mola Ram "betrayed Shiva."

* In formal heraldry, the representation of the crowns belonging to Dukes and Kings carry abstract spikes which are thought to be the last survival of animal horns. (Each crown in heraldry has its own formal, rigidly defined, shape which clearly denotes the arms-holder's rank in the social order - ie, that for a baronet is fairly perfunctory, but that for a Duke is highly ornate). The horned helmets of ancient Celts and Vikings - which today are thought as only ever having had ceremonial rather than practical use - is also thought of as being a mark of the wearer's status, that only a warlord or high dignitary was entitled to wear horns.)
* Also, check out use of horned head-dresses in North American Indian society - it's probably no accident that sitting Bull wore bison horns in his head-dress. Apache shamans wore ceremonial deer-horns, for instance.
* Secondary wives of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs wore circlets adorned with the horned heads of ibex and gazelle symbolizing their grace and beauty. Great Wives wore a tall crown consisting of a pair of cow's horns cradling a solar disk embelished with ostrich plumes and as many ureaii (cobra heads) as could be fitted on. Only the gods know how the poor woman kept all that balanced on her head.

* Orcs and Orks in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' respectively often wear the very large horns of various creatures, usually to show that they've killed something bigger and meaner than themselves.
** {{Exaggerated}} in true orkish fashion by their habit of putting either giant tusks or stamped metal shapes of same on their vehicles... ''including spacecraft''. According to some sources, these "giant teef" serve the same purpose as the Imperial Gellar Field: they prevent [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons]] from boarding the ship during [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp transit]] due to some combination of [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve orkish gestalt psychic powers]] and sheer intimidation. Of course, if daemons actually succeed in boarding, the orks view as a pleasant interruption to their daily life.
** Some Chaos artifacts take this form as well (for much the same reasons as the orks), along with the usual horned helmets.

* In ancient Mesopotamia, bull horns (sometimes more than 2) on a crown were a sign of divinity. So the "god"-kings wore them, at least according to relief sculptures of them. And the lamassu and gods wore them on their helms in visual artwork, as well.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Renly Baratheon's helmet has golden antlers, referencing the stag that is the sigil of his house. His brother Robert Baratheon's crown also has a stag's horns, which is fitting because [[spoiler:he is [[CuckoldHorns cuckolded]] by his wife Cersei Lannister and Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are not actually his children.]]

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', House Baratheon is the royal house at the time the series begins. Baratheon kings tend to wear crowns referencing the stag of their heraldry (except Stannis, who is notably crownless). Examples include Robert, Joffrey and Renly (pictured). After the [[spoiler:death of his eldest brother Robert]], Renly declares himself the rightful king, ahead of his "nephew" Joffrey and older brother Stannis. Renly's antler crown is a valuable means to create an image of legitimacy.

* The Jagged Crown in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' looks like it's made of dragon teeth... because that's exactly what it's made from.

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', House Baratheon is the royal house at the time the series begins. Baratheon kings tend to wear crowns referencing the stag of their heraldry. Examples include Robert, Joffrey and Renly (pictured). After the [[spoiler:death of his eldest brother Robert]], Renly declares himself the rightful king, ahead of his "nephew" Joffrey and older brother Stannis. Renly's antler crown is a valuable means to create an image of legitimacy.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Renly Baratheon's helmet has golden antlers, referencing the stag that is the sigil of his house. His brother Robert Baratheon's crown also has a stag's horns, which is fitting because [[spoiler:he is cuckolded by his wife Cersei Lannister and Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are not actually his children.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' Renly Baratheon's helmet has golden antlers, referencing the stag that is the sigil of his house.

** There are a number of head armor pieces adorned with antlers that players can obtain, such as [[http://www.wowhead.com/item=65617 the Headdress of the Verdant Circle]].

* In the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, as in the comics, Loki wears a very ostentatious horned helmet. It's implied in ''{{Film/Thor}}'' to be ceremonial and a status symbol- like a crown or coronet- indicating his rank as a prince. Each male member of the royal family has his own unique helmet design, and the princes notably ''don't'' wear the helmets when they go out expecting to actually get in a fight.

* In the ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' fanfic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2038305/chapters/4425591 Your Servant, Mistress]], Maleficent doesn't have horns, but wears a headdress that resembles horns when Diaval first meets her.

* The ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'' novel ''The Book of Three''. The chief villain is the Horned King, who wears a mask made out of a human skull with great antlers rising in cruel curves. He is a warlord who is Arawn's champion and the War Leader of Annuvin.

* In ComicBook/Bone, this is subverted. There's a CosmicKeystone called the Crown of Horns, but it turns out to be neither a crown nor horned.

** {{Exaggerated}} in true orkish fashion by their habit of putting either giant tusks or stamped metal shapes of same on their vehicles... ''including spacecraft''. According to some sources, these "giant teef" serve the same purpose as the Imperial Gellar Field: they prevent [[TheLegionsOfHell daemons]] from boarding the ship during [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Warp transit]] due to some combination of [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve orkish gestalt psychic powers]] and sheer intimidation.

* Mola Ram, who leads the ReligionOfEvil in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', wears one of these. It's made from a cow's skull, which is blasphemous in UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} (a religion that considers cattle sacred), just to hammer home the point that Mola Ram "betrayed Shiva."

* Mola Ram, who leads the ReligionOfEvil in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', wears one of these.

This is often an in-universe InvokedTrope, with characters trying to look similar to TheMarvelousDeer, HornedHumanoid or even BeastMan. Just as often the horned animal in question is associated with authority or rulership by the wearer. As the page pic shows stags are often used, though bulls come a close second and basically any horned animal or mythical beast is fair game.

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* In TadWilliams's ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' trilogy, the king of the Sitha people used to wear a crown of witchwood in the distant past, which looked like stag's antlers. It also made Ineluki look really creepy in a drawing Simon found of him.

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[[AC:{{Fanfiction}}]]
* In the ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' fanfic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2038305/chapters/4425591 Your Servant, Mistress]], Maleficent doesn't have horns, but wears a headdress that resembles horns when Diaval first meets her.

[[AC:Film]]
* In the Marvel films, as in the comics, Loki wears a very ostentatious horned helmet. It's implied in {{Film/Thor}} to be ceremonial and a status symbol- like a crown or coronet- indicating his rank as a prince. Each male member of the royal family has his own unique helmet design, and the princes notably ''don't'' wear the helmets when they go out expecting to actually get in a fight.

* The Jagged Crown in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' looks like it's made of dragon teeth.

* In his late 80s/early 90s run of the Demon, {{Etrigan}} was one of several characters who fought over the rulership of {{Hell}}, symbolized by one of these. Unlike the other examples, it most assuredly was named for the [[Literature/TheFourGospels the Crown of Thorns]], though similarities end there.

* Mola Ram in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' wears one of these.