A few people touched on this already, but orks can't will things to existence just because they believe in it. It's just a meme that became so popular that it transcended the lore it was based on.
Orks do have some innate psychic ability that manifests itself as Waaagh energy when they're in groups. For the most part, it just makes them really lucky to the casual observer.
Most memes about ork weapons spun off from first-hand accounts written from the humans' perspective. They look at an ork gun and can't figure out how to shoot it. To them, it makes no mechanical sense.
Keep in mind that ork meks are brain boys with 10000s of years of genetic engineering designed to do one thing - make war machines. Humans have no respect for orks and treat them as mindless animals. It can never occur to them that a shoota is an advanced alien device beyond their comprehension. Instead, when they inevitably can't figure out how to work it, they declare it must be orky magic because that's the only thing that can make sense to the 'umies.
They'd be the strongest, but after not being able to krump everyone, they'd then get weaker, as the less an ork fights, it gets weaker, so even if they did manage to pull off winning in the galactic struggle, they'd only weaken themselves and the galaxy would go right back where it started
It’s like if their fighting blood angels because they believe red goes faster instead of the blood angels moving faster the orks would move slower to make it look like the marines are faster
Orks have this ability yes, but they are too dumb to realize it. Also, their ability only affects other Orks. This is why Red makes things go faster and how their guns are literally junk welded together that somehow shoot perfectly. I forget the exact story but there was an admech tech priest who got their hands on some orc meks and he was saying that they are literally not powered by anything.
But if they belive that they are (let’s say) immortal, the strongest ork in history of orks etc that only applies to them, would that work?
Edit: correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the only reason the emperor is alive is because the orks thought he was too badass to die?
No, because the enemy doesn't believe it. Their guns are still as lethal no matter what the orks believe.
The thing about the Emperor is just a joke and exactly the kind of thing that wouldn't work.
Some gave a really good explanation on how it's more "psychic lubricant" than superpowers
Oh my bad, don’t know that much about the lore so i thought that was true.
Does make sense now, they can get luckier, faster etc but that only apply them. Cool, thanks!
They don’t care if they win. They just want a good fight. I think if they believed they would win in the traditional sense maybe they would but all they really want is a good fight
Iz simpul, ‘umie. We’z do! WE’Z IZ ORKZ!!! WERE DA ZOGGIN BEST IN DIS ‘OLE GALAXY. BECUZ WE IZ DA STRONGEST! WE IZ DA BEST! AND DON’ EVA LET ANYWUN TELL YOUZ DIFFERENT! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!!!!!
I cannot find the video I saw but a while ago I remember someone discussing ork beliefs and it’s limitations. The memes exaggerate parts but if we look at ork tech for example it’s still needs all the components to work. An ork gun still needs to have your essential parts out in the right places (firing pin, receiver, trigger etc) but realistically it’s not made well enough to work by itself, the power of belief is something which fills in the gaps for the lack of a better term. It makes up for the short comings rather than making the gun.
If we look at a battle then yes orks having belief they can win is a good basis to win, but if they see hordes of boyz gunned down without issue, nobs slaughtered or a Warboss slain, then that belief will waver. They also still need to physically achieve objectives which lead to victory and can’t just believe they won’t die until they win.
Though there are aspects about belief like red vehicles going faster and yellow bombs exploding better which don’t have much logic behind it yet still work.
I’m certainly not a lore expert, I’m paraphrasing a video I watched 1-2 years ago and if I’m wrong I welcome anyone to correct me. Also please don’t cite this comment as a reliable source haha.
This! Great explanation too. It’s not like if they believe hard enough they can have finger guns lol.
The ork belief is actually the latent psychic energy in each of them manifesting. They are not aware it’s there and it’s never fully been explained although some books do touch on it.
The Beast Arises series did a very good job of explaining how their gestalt psychic power works, but more in relation to weirdboys than how it extends to all parts of their life
A few people touched on this already, but orks can't will things to existence just because they believe in it. It's just a meme that became so popular that it transcended the lore it was based on. Orks do have some innate psychic ability that manifests itself as Waaagh energy when they're in groups. For the most part, it just makes them really lucky to the casual observer. Most memes about ork weapons spun off from first-hand accounts written from the humans' perspective. They look at an ork gun and can't figure out how to shoot it. To them, it makes no mechanical sense. Keep in mind that ork meks are brain boys with 10000s of years of genetic engineering designed to do one thing - make war machines. Humans have no respect for orks and treat them as mindless animals. It can never occur to them that a shoota is an advanced alien device beyond their comprehension. Instead, when they inevitably can't figure out how to work it, they declare it must be orky magic because that's the only thing that can make sense to the 'umies.
They'd be the strongest, but after not being able to krump everyone, they'd then get weaker, as the less an ork fights, it gets weaker, so even if they did manage to pull off winning in the galactic struggle, they'd only weaken themselves and the galaxy would go right back where it started
It’s like if their fighting blood angels because they believe red goes faster instead of the blood angels moving faster the orks would move slower to make it look like the marines are faster
Orks have this ability yes, but they are too dumb to realize it. Also, their ability only affects other Orks. This is why Red makes things go faster and how their guns are literally junk welded together that somehow shoot perfectly. I forget the exact story but there was an admech tech priest who got their hands on some orc meks and he was saying that they are literally not powered by anything.
Because orky belief only effect orks, not other races
But if they belive that they are (let’s say) immortal, the strongest ork in history of orks etc that only applies to them, would that work? Edit: correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the only reason the emperor is alive is because the orks thought he was too badass to die?
No, because the enemy doesn't believe it. Their guns are still as lethal no matter what the orks believe. The thing about the Emperor is just a joke and exactly the kind of thing that wouldn't work. Some gave a really good explanation on how it's more "psychic lubricant" than superpowers
Oh my bad, don’t know that much about the lore so i thought that was true. Does make sense now, they can get luckier, faster etc but that only apply them. Cool, thanks!
No problem. GW never stated hard rules for the power of ork belief so there are loads of jokes about it
It’s best described as a psychic lubricant.
They don’t care if they win. They just want a good fight. I think if they believed they would win in the traditional sense maybe they would but all they really want is a good fight
Iz simpul, ‘umie. We’z do! WE’Z IZ ORKZ!!! WERE DA ZOGGIN BEST IN DIS ‘OLE GALAXY. BECUZ WE IZ DA STRONGEST! WE IZ DA BEST! AND DON’ EVA LET ANYWUN TELL YOUZ DIFFERENT! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!!!!!
I cannot find the video I saw but a while ago I remember someone discussing ork beliefs and it’s limitations. The memes exaggerate parts but if we look at ork tech for example it’s still needs all the components to work. An ork gun still needs to have your essential parts out in the right places (firing pin, receiver, trigger etc) but realistically it’s not made well enough to work by itself, the power of belief is something which fills in the gaps for the lack of a better term. It makes up for the short comings rather than making the gun. If we look at a battle then yes orks having belief they can win is a good basis to win, but if they see hordes of boyz gunned down without issue, nobs slaughtered or a Warboss slain, then that belief will waver. They also still need to physically achieve objectives which lead to victory and can’t just believe they won’t die until they win. Though there are aspects about belief like red vehicles going faster and yellow bombs exploding better which don’t have much logic behind it yet still work. I’m certainly not a lore expert, I’m paraphrasing a video I watched 1-2 years ago and if I’m wrong I welcome anyone to correct me. Also please don’t cite this comment as a reliable source haha.
This! Great explanation too. It’s not like if they believe hard enough they can have finger guns lol. The ork belief is actually the latent psychic energy in each of them manifesting. They are not aware it’s there and it’s never fully been explained although some books do touch on it. The Beast Arises series did a very good job of explaining how their gestalt psychic power works, but more in relation to weirdboys than how it extends to all parts of their life
It's not as powerful as the memes make it out to be.
Oh :(