She didn't use the horn because the filmmakers wanted a dramatic sequence where Peter would be forced to choose which way he wanted to go only in the end he didn't have to choose because they wanted to show off their graphics by having a melting waterfall, obviously! Okay, now that I'm done ranting, I think Susan didn't use her horn because she didn't think they needed help. She thought that if Peter went along with Maugrim they could all go home and that would be the end of it. Why she thought that she could trust a wolf who was trying to kill them I don't know, but that's another topic.

Good question. Well, I guess because the script didn't have it in there for her to do that, although, if we want a logical answer, daughter of the king's answer about her not thinking they actually did need help makes sense as well. And too, perhaps in the heat of it all, she just didn't think about it... which doesn't make sense because you'd think since she just got it she'd remember it.

Too bad they didn't put the Father Christmas scene after the Waterfall scene...or even better leave it out entirely.

hey, that is a VERY good question! wow! why didn't she use her horn! I told my sister about this and she said, "It wasn't the right time."
what? as if the peril couldn't get any worse: they are fleeing the White Witch, they are being chased by wolves who trap them on a thin sheet if ice, the ice breaks and they go into the cold water.....yeah, that wasn't peril enough to need help
ha ha!
she should have blown the horn!

Should she have blown the horn? Yes-- it would be logical and very Susan-esque to do so. However, I see some reasons why she didn't, other than it not "making sense" for the moment according to the script writers.

1. She simply forgot she had it.

2. She didn't believe what Father Christmas had told her. She tells Peter: "Just because some man in a red coat hands you a sword it doesn't make you a hero." (Perhaps her meeting with Aslan helped her to believe more.)

3. She thought she could handle the situation and therefore didn't see it as a great time of need.

So many things in so many movies are never explained - especially motives for character's rationale in decisions made on the big screen.

My first gut reaction is that Susan had zero confidence in the whole situation. She did not want to be in Narnia to start with. She was the first to say they should've just gone home. She was the first to suggest surrender when under pressure. She was the last to come around when it came to being involved in a battle. She was sort of negative about it. She only used it after she had met Aslan.

Anyhoo. Why use it if you don't believe in it? 50 cent opinion.

I also felt, when watching the movie, that Susan has already started to feel some kind of suspicions in her soul. We now, of course from the book the story...well, consequently, her indecisiveness has given results in this case. And if we imagine, for a moment the scene...the danger, which is coming, and the situation of the characters we can easily imagine, that Susan has lost faith and courage in Narnia for this moment. I think this is the reason she didn't use her horn.

I dont think she really believed just yet...she was still unsure about being there. Maybe she just did'nt feel like using because she was frustrated anyway...the more faith she had the more she believed and Aslan gave her that little "push".

Wow! Awesome replies! Ditto Tawariell and ceppault! My thoughts?

Real Reason? - As daughter of the King pointed out, for drama.

Reason that loyal Narnia nuts come up with that can excuse and possibly satisfactorily explain it away? - Because she had no faith. She was by all descriptions, what some would call merely practical, others worldly. Of course, some people are naturally practical, but when you take it so far you see no sense in faith, then it is "worldly", or of this world. I think this ties in with "Our sister, Susan, is no longer a friend of Narnia".

This is crazy, it isn't real!
It's impossible what I feel!
A world where a boy is a king,
And running around fighting
with sword, slicing and hacking-
Oh! Is my confidence lacking?
I know that this isn't true
That if I were to tell you
I would meet with loud jeers
And then would my darkest fears
Be realized... I'm going insane.

Ugh, sorry. Just got inspired. Quite pitiful...

Lady Courage, that's quite a funny poem! I am inclined to believe that Susan is just being Susan: this crazy guy dressed in a red coat like Santa Claus gave her a "magical" horn; she's spent the day tramping through snow and ice, talking to *beavers*, of all things; she's been chased by talking wolves and all of this happened because they stepped into a wardrobe! She's not going to do the seemingly logical thing because she doesn't believe in any of it, and in her skepticism there is a bit of superiority. (Oh, please: a magical world?) And I don't think we had to "explain away" to fill plotholes; it is real justification for her actions and undoubtedly was an issue for the filmmakers to contend with.

Just my two cents.

~~

Wow, Tawariell and ceppault took the words right out of mouth. Putting all film elements aside and taking this as the real thing, sometimes fear takes over all reasoning. When you get caught up in a fast paced moment like this, with your very life hanging on the line, you don't always think about the tools right in front of you. Is it not in PC that Susan's own fears take over her very thoughts? Would this not be a similar case? The other side of Susan is that she doesn't believe in Narnia right away. So saying, why should she believe in a magic horn right off the bat? She doesn't even believe in Peter suceeding with his sword from Father Christmas in the same situation. When she does use her horn, perhaps she has more of an understanding of Narnia and is willing to give the power of the horn a try (having learned from the experience at the river). In the long run, it's not really one of those "missing elements" that bothers me in the film. If one really wants to know why she didn't use the horn, they must dig deeper into her character and find the reason (or at least imagine up a good one ).

I never thought about this..
I think it's quite hilarious that we can always find a logical reason for everything happening in movie-Narnia, rather than being realistic and saying that the film-makers just needed it to be this way.

My explanation would be along the same lines as Tawariell's first 2 answers. At first I just assumed she was too caught up in the situation to remember to use it, but it makes more sense and fits Susan's character to say that she didn't believe it would work, and that she would feel foolish trying something that she doesn't have 100% confidence in.

To add to the discussion...
Perhaps the question isn't "Why didn't Susan use her horn on the melting river?" but "Why did she use the horn at Aslan's camp?"

If Susan wasn't quite convinced of the horn's magical properties, (which really aren't properly established until the PC movie) then she might not blow the horn on the river if she felt there would be no one nearby to rescue her. At Aslan's camp on the other hand, she knew there were plenty of allies within earshot. Susan probably knew that a horn doesn't have to be magical in order to get someone's attention.

A better question is, had she blown the horn, would anything have changed? Peter was the help she needed, and Peter was already there. Ergo, there was no need to blow the horn. Could have been choice, might just have been fate.

Narnian existentialism.

To add to the discussion...
Perhaps the question isn't "Why didn't Susan use her horn on the melting river?" but "Why did she use the horn at Aslan's camp?"

I would have to guess that it has something to do with seeing Aslan. Something about Him instills belief in her.

I never thought about this..
I think it's quite hilarious that we can always find a logical reason for everything happening in movie-Narnia, rather than being realistic and saying that the film-makers just needed it to be this way.

It was most likely the film makers needed it to happen this way for dramatic purposes and didn't think that we Narnia-webbers would be trying to decipher everything!!