Waaagh! Da Orks is a series of articles, designed to encourage discussion and debate about the subject of the Orks in Warhammer 40,000. Hopefully it will be informative, in some instances amusing or at least give some interesting food for thought that might help you get more out of the Ork background aspect of the hobby. Although they are certainly not the last word on the Orks, they are intended to argue and debate concepts, some of which are not wholly agreed in the Warhammer 40,000 community.
Particularly for that reason, the first part of this series will look at common misconceptions about the Orks. Some of it is limited to those viewing Orks from the outside, but it is also something subject to the Ork players themselves, particularly if they have not read all of the background resources that feature the Orks.
Chapter 1: The Orks - Stupid, Crude or Misunderstood?
“The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their turn. And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn’t even bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude.” Uthan the Perverse
There are many misconceptions about the Orks. Some are because the Orks aren’t as straightforward as they look, and some because we’re even convinced that they’re straightforward at all. This particular subject is mostly limited to (but not exclusively) Non-Ork players. It goes without saying that if most of the people who only have a passing notice of them call them stupid, green, crude, and talk like Sloth from The Goonies on Ritalin, there’s bound to be a few inaccuracies.
Let’s face it, if you’ve spent any amount of time in this hobby as an Ork player, you’ve encountered players who say Orks are stupid, and shouldn’t be so utterly awesome. Perhaps they say they are out of place in this GrimDark Univer… sorry, Universe that was until recently called GrimDark. Usually said people tend to have just recently watched their shiny Beakies, Pansee or other Unproppa army get a severe kicking from some Orks: probably yours.
Unfortunately a decent segment of the fluff doesn’t help. Particularly the Ork way of speaking, which doesn’t come across too well. Partly however that is because you force a race to speak in a tongue that not only isn’t theirs, but also uses a completely different system of language. There are real life parallels. Do we call the North American Indian depiction in Hollywood films as they speak English “Him over there…” as stupid?
It is itself a fictional writing device (a trope), which itself is partly the point. The struggle to use a language we understand is supposed to be jarring. Perhaps we people who consume this are the ones who are stupid and crude? After all we don’t go to the effort of learning all the languages of the world (or can’t be bothered to read subtitles) of modernity and antiquity, nor to we go to the effort of learning fictional languages (well, 99% of us don’t). So, you have a choice. Either you understand what is said, or like the vast majority of Rammstein’s Non-German fanbase, you enjoy the sound of it and make a guess as to what it means (and with Rammstein, I doubt your guess will be anywhere near).
Of course the Orks themselves are rather uncomplicated. But, as the quote at the start of this article states, they don’t need to be. Orks certainly aren’t stupid though, that is based on factors we attribute to ourselves, or at least the outward values we expect to see. An intellectual usually has a advanced diction (although trust me, no grasp of grammar whatsoever), uses long words, conveys complex meanings and such. But an Ork doesn’t really need that. Orks are warriors, and in that regard they are devastatingly efficient. Every battle is a victory in some way. They don’t angst, they fight viciously and confidently, they don’t particularly fear death, and they have a philosophy that wholly supports their outlook.
If you contrast it with the fictional representation of humans (i.e. the Imperium) in 40k, you have humans blindly accepting a religious dictatorial theocracy that outright insists on deliberate ignorance of anything that doesn’t support their religious views. Orks do deliberately ignore things too, but only those things that don’t actually matter. Orks clearly have the ability to use tactics, and are depicted as the ultimate survivor, adapting to any situation in order to survive. Whereas we have fluff of the Imperial Higher Ups dismissing and punishing soldiers for suggesting that the Orks are anything other than stupid green berserkers.
Sure you have the likes of Pansee and such who seem more sophisticated, but they did create a Chaos God during certain events, which most likely made Roman Emperor Caligula blush in his grave. You do however have the above quote, Uthan is a Pansee, leading to either the conclusion that the Pansee know how efficient the Orks are, or that Uthan is in the minority, which is often argued by the Pro Orks=dumb argument.
It does however overlook one important fact about the Warhammer 40,000 Universe. The smart ones are either dead, about to be (probably self-inflicted) or running very quickly away from pretty much anything they come across. Either way, being smart in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe isn’t a good idea, something that has been explored to marvellous effect in the Ciaphas Cain novels.
Orks are ultimately deeply misunderstood, and what makes them so interesting is either overlooked or underplayed. Unfortunately a great deal of 40k geeks don’t seem to be able to understand the difference between canon and personal taste, which leads to a great deal of dismissive comments based mostly on the fact that people don’t like and/or get what the Orks are about.
It’s certainly true that to an extent, Orks have been dumbed down for a younger audience. However if you look close enough, Orks are still as deep and interesting as they always have been, and there is a wonderful simplicity to the Orks that is actually astonishingly interesting, and excellent fiction. Over the course of this part of the series, I hope to address a few of these misconceptions, and I encourage debate over what the Orks are, what (little there is) lies in the future for Orkdom. Hopefully by the end of it, Orks will be a lot more interesting.
The next chapter in this series will be about Ork Physiology.
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