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From my understanding when one tribe/clan is beaten by another the weaker is happily absorbed by the stronger accepting the leadership of the stronger.
My question have there ever been any instance of defeated orks following a non ork leader and if not could it ever happen in the world of 40k or is it one of those things that just won't happen?

Orks will not follow anyone other then a bigger Ork.

Seconded. Some Morkerz might be sneaky enough to pretend to follow a deluded 'umie until the right moment (when he's got his back to the ork, for example) to steal his loot and kill him.

Sometimes orks (mostly Blood Axes) will do mercenary work, but it's more a case of allowing themselves to be pointed in the direction of a good fight with bonus loot from the employer. Anyone with any sense will be far away when the fight is over, in case the orks decide they haven't had enough fighting yet.

Although some orks will hire themselvels out to other races, they in general view them as too weedy to be truly "in charge".
It isn't impossible for orks to follow someone from another species but usually when they encounter someone powerful they'll view him as a good enemy to have.

You don't just have to be big. You also have to be green and Orky.

We do have a fluff precedent... Sort of.

During the 3rd War for Armageddon, gazzy reinstated the previously exiled (and incompetant) former governor herrman von strabb.
Admittedly he was surrounded by ork minders and probably had very little actual power. But regardless, the orks put him on a pedestal but I'd hesitate to call him an actual leader, more a puppet figurehead to represent the orks new primary source of food.

Thanks for the interesting informations, if anyone else remembers anything relevant I hope you share.

Orks only follow Orks, even those such as Blood Axes who act as mercs rarely listen to orders from non Orks. Orks think that the way humans classify leaders (uniforms, rings, medals, etc) is dumb, and while they are arguing over "who's the boss", the Orks will clobber da lot.

Ultrafool wrote:Orks only follow Orks, even those such as Blood Axes who act as mercs rarely listen to orders from non Orks. Orks think that the way humans classify leaders (uniforms, rings, medals, etc) is dumb, and while they are arguing over "who's the boss", the Orks will clobber da lot.

I remember the quote about that in the codex