Ork Myths Part 2 - Orks are stupid

Everyone knows that Orks are stupid.

But are they?

1. Propaganda = true?

We have to make a distinction between the two types of background text; what I call opinion text and narrative text. Opinion text is anything that's written from the perspective of a character in the 40k universe. The ever famous and misunderstood "psychic resonance" piece is definitely an opinion piece. It's written by a character in the universe and is slanted towards that characters views. Narrative text is the neutral third person descriptions of the races or events that take place in the 40k universe. The majority of the background in the current Ork codex is narrative.

Opinion pieces often refer to Orks as being stupid and they're often written from the view of the Imperium, who hate all xenos. Of course they're going to be derogatory to their enemies, the same as all propaganda has done throughout history.

Narrative text on the left, opinion text on the right

The narrative text in the current Ork codex makes no mention of Orks being stupid. If Orks were truly stupid then the narrative text would definitely call it out and make a point of it. It's true that it refers to things which could be construed as being stupid, but it does not make any specific reference to Orks being stupid. Example:

"When an Ork speaks, it is in a slow, gruff tone thick with saliva and guttural curses. His words are sparse, brutal and straight to the point." - Ork codex, page 4.

No mention of stupidity. Being straight to the point is not stupid, nor is speaking in a slow and gruff tone. You may (and I probably would too) make the assumption that someone speaking in that way is stupid, but it is no proof positive of a low IQ. It's also understandable that Orks might not have the best grasp on Imperial Gothic (they really don't care to spend the time needed to learn another language) so they're just speaking with the few words that they know.

There are lots of places in the narrative text where it could have mentioned being stupid, but it doesn't. Another example:

"Ugly and violent creatures, Orks are the dominant caste of a race that includes the smaller Gretchin and Snotling sub-races. The Orks rule their barbaric civilisation with an iron fist." - Ork codex, page 4. 

If Orks were stupid then surely that would be as good a place as any to mention it?

2. One Ork = all Orks?

There are lots of examples of an Ork doing something that we would count as stupid. Just because one Ork does something that's stupid doesn't mean that all Orks are stupid. For every story of an Ork not understanding a basic concept is a story of a human being doing the same.

Hell, the most popular news website in the world is the Daily Mail. That does not bode well for humanities intelligence.

Ladies and gentlemen, the most popular newspaper website in the world.

Collectively, Orks are always underestimated. Every Ork invasion story involves Imperial commanders believing the Orks to be tactically stupid and then being taken by complete surprise. Gazghuls invasions of Armageddon show fantastic tactical ability and massive underestimation by the Imperial commanders. Only Yarrick held back the tide because he understood the Orks and knew how cunning they could be.

In Imperial Armour 8, the Imperials faith in their propaganda meant that they underestimated the Orks ability to respond to their attacks. Their absolute belief that Orks were stupid and could easily be dispatched proved to be their own undoing as the Orks responded in full force to the attacks.

3. Straight to the point

Orks have a different way of thinking than we do. It's one of the things that I like about them. They are straight to the point and don't mess about. If there are two ways of doing things then the Orks will take the easiest every time.

In the modern world, if we want to redesign a tank so it goes faster then we spend years refining it. It will involve lots of design work, testing and implementation before the task is finished. Orks would just stick a bigger engine on the tank and call it a day, even if it had bad consequences like being more prone to breaking down or axles snapping from the stress.

To take an urban legend as an example, traditional pens don't work in space and NASA supposedly spent $12bn dollars and a decade developing a pen that could write in space. The Russians used a pencil. The story isn't really true (it was a private company which made the pen and it was millions spent, not billions) but it illustrates Orky thinking perfectly. Orks just don't see the point of investing that much time and effort into perfecting something. They'll always take the easiest possible route even if it's not a perfect (or even a great) solution.

The Fisher Space Men. Was it worth the time and effort spent on development?

Whenever you read anything where Orks do something that we would think of as stupid, look at it from the point of view that they're just lazy and doing the easiest job they can. Laziness does not equal stupidity, and the elegance of lazy solutions is often ingenious.

4. They don't understand their own technology.

This is such a huge misconception that I'm devoting another article to it. However, let's assume for now that it's true (it's not). The Imperium also doesn't understand its technology. They perform a holy ritual involving rubbing scented oils into their guns to keep them working. They don't understand that it's cleaning the weapon that keeps them working, not the ritual. They have barely any technological advancement and rely on finding ancient forgotten technologies in order to move forward.

If Orks are stupid because they don't understand their technology (they do) then mankind is too.

Ork Battlewagon with Supakannon

5. They don't care about dying

Orks live for one thing: fun. It just so happens that their idea of fun is fighting and so they're not really afraid of dying like other races (famously saying that if they're dead then it doesn't count as defeat because they don't care). Orks are basically huge adrenaline junkies without a fear of death. When you take that into account then a lot of what they do (riding in death traps, firing huge weapons that have just as much as a chance of killing themselves) starts to make sense. It's not stupid to ignore something you don't care about in order to have fun.

We might think Orks are stupid because they strap a huge rocket onto their back and go kareening off towards the enemy at full throttle, sometimes exploding mid-air. A human being wouldn't do that because of their fear of dying. Orks have no such fear and only want to show off and brawl. The rocket pack makes sense when you look at it from their point of view.

Hell, the Ork word for "best friend" is also the same as "best enemy". That's the sort of race we're dealing with.

6. Problem solving

Orks are good at problem solving. Like really good. Their ability to turn scrap metal into working objects is unrivalled and shows an innate understanding of technology.

No other race in the universe can land in a scrapyard and start churning out working machines built out of what's available. Imperial Engineers have no ability to think outside the box and so unless there just happens to be enough STC parts around to put together an STC approved vehicle then it's not going to happen. Eldar won't be able to turn it into high art. The only ones who'd almost be able to turn it into something would be Tau, but even then it's unlikely and they wouldn't be comfortable doing so.

Orks would relish the opportunity and would start churning out multiple vehicles and weapons within days. They can take anything that's broken and fix it, and upgrade their own equipment very quickly using scrap they come across. In Gorkamorka, the Meks were rebuilding an Ork spaceship using burnt out scrap metal found in the desert from when their original ship exploded in orbit. Even with our modern mechanical engineering I think we'd struggle to make an airplane using the scrap from a crash.

No other teams would stand a chance against Orks on this show.

Their ability to not only use scrap metal to build vehicles but also to loot enemies vehicles shows that they're not just good at building their own technology. They're also experts at dissecting alien (to them) technology and fixing it.

Their ability to work with technology is absolutely unrivalled in the 40k universe. They may not have the most efficient technology, and it'll often fall apart very quickly after use, but they are extremely intelligent and resourceful when it comes to building things.

Conclusion

It is absolutely true that Imperial propaganda often refers to Orks as being stupid. It's also true that Orks do a lot of things that we would call stupid. Neither of these facts make Orks stupid.

They have a completely different way of thinking to human beings. Their laziness mixed with complete apathy towards death means that they do a lot of things that we would think suicidal. If you look at their actions with the mindset of not caring about dying or being maimed and trying to do the easiest possible thing then their actions start to make complete sense.

Their technological abilities show them to be extremely resourceful and intelligent. Their knowledge of powerfields is often said to be greater than that of even the Eldar so by itself this shows them to be intelligent. The idea that they don't understand their own technology is wrong, as I'll explain in detail in the next article, and cheapens their intelligence and cunning.

Ork invasion stories, when written by a competent author, show that they are always underestimated and that's often the reason why they win. Armageddon shows brilliant tactical and strategic thinking on Gazghuls part where he uses his different technologies together to form a coherent and deadly battle plan. Only Commissar Yarrick, who didn't underestimate Gazghul was able to put a halt to the Orks' relentless attack.

In summary, Orks are not stupid.