How long do Orks live?

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**Xav**

I was reading on the second and third war of Armageddan, and it says 50 years after the second war, Ghazghkull Thraza returned, how long do Orks live, if they dont die in battle, can they die of old age?

**Corpsesarefun**

Forever but are normally killed in a fight with either eachother or an enemy.

**Gogsnik**

Like many other creatures in the 40K universe orks appear functionally immortal, ie they only die if they are killed but otherwise live forever. I don't recall seeing anything that states this one way or the other, but I think I would personally say that orks merely live, or can live, for a very long time and are not immortal. We knwo they get bigger when they fight, we know they are resistant to disease but not immune to everything and they are very easy to repair and very hard to damage and those factors make it easy for them to live a long time. I've seen debates about just how big orks could get, and feasibly if they never stop growing and live forever there must be some truly gargantuan orks out there but these are never even hinted at, huge warbosses yes, but nothing monumental. So I woud say that they have an upward limit.

**colonel584**

As they get older they get bigger and also a darker and darker green. When they die they like go to dust or something and form somewhere else

**CajunMan550**

I'd check the avg life span of mold if its fed properly that might give a hint since thats what they are. I think they can live for az lungz az wez zays we dux

**Orkeosaurus**

Gogsnik wrote:Like many other creatures in the 40K universe orks appear functionally immortal, ie they only die if they are killed but otherwise live forever. I don't recall seeing anything that states this one way or the other, but I think I would personally say that orks merely live, or can live, for a very long time and are not immortal. We knwo they get bigger when they fight, we know they are resistant to disease but not immune to everything and they are very easy to repair and very hard to damage and those factors make it easy for them to live a long time. I've seen debates about just how big orks could get, and feasibly if they never stop growing and live forever there must be some truly gargantuan orks out there but these are never even hinted at, huge warbosses yes, but nothing monumental. So I woud say that they have an upward limit.

Actually, I recall reading some sort of xenologist report on ork worlds where every boy was the size of a nob, and there was speculation about warbosses far bigger than anything seen before.

May have been in the old codex, I'm not sure.

(Also, it was either Horus or the Emperor who was almost killed by a warboss, before the other saved him. That would have been the quite warboss too.)

**Cheese Elemental**

It's in the new Ork codex too, Orkeo, but it's about a Waaagh! that went for so long that the Boyz were the size of Nobs and the Warboss was enormous. Apparently, the older and bigger an Ork gets, the darker its skin is. I recall 'Eavy Metal once painted up a big Warboss whose skin was black from fighting for so long. Not green-black, but actual black-black.

**Orkeosaurus**

Ah, must have missed the new one!

I think the dark skin is a throwback to the Black Orcs, who themselves were a throwback to the Uruk-Hai.

**Cheese Elemental**

The Black Orcs in WHFB have dark skin because they're the hardcore, old veterans, the best of the best that the Orcs have.

**shadowseer92**

not that long when i'm done with them

**Nightwatch**

I think orks can live until they
A) get killed
B) grow too large.
(With humans anyway, we stop growing because if we didn't then we'd grow too large for our lungs to provide us with enough oxygen and they'd collapse from overworking. I think. It may be the same with orks? Although goodness knows how powerful a void whale's lungs must be)

**Zog Off**

Some of them even make it to turn five.

**Orkeosaurus**

Nightwatch wrote:(With humans anyway, we stop growing because if we didn't then we'd grow too large for our lungs to provide us with enough oxygen and they'd collapse from overworking. I think.

Yeah, among other problems. (That's the reason ten-foot high bugs will never take over the world; their respiratory/cardiovascular system can't handle anything much larger than a goliath beetle.)

It may be the same with orks?

I don't know that it would be; in addition to simply getting larger, the orks also get stronger/more resilient. I would expect this to carry over to their vital organs as well. After all, they were created with the ability to grow gigantic.

I also recall reading that an ork basically has a truckload of redundant organs, and a physiology that would generally be far more conducive to that kind of thing than that of real living beings.

Although goodness knows how powerful a void whale's lungs must be)

They live in space.

**Soapyshoes**

I would imagine someone like Ghaz would live indefinitely since every single ork on the battlefield (including Ghaz himself) believes he's the biggest, meanest, toughest SOB to ever roam the universe. They believe he won't die because 'e's da best boss evah. The psychic powers of the orks are pretty amazing, they just don't know that they have it.

**Nightwatch**

Orkeosaurus wrote:
Nightwatch wrote:(With humans anyway, we stop growing because if we didn't then we'd grow too large for our lungs to provide us with enough oxygen and they'd collapse from overworking. I think.
Yeah, among other problems. (That's the reason ten-foot high bugs will never take over the world; their respiratory/cardiovascular system can't handle anything much larger than a goliath beetle.)

It may be the same with orks?
I don't know that it would be; in addition to simply getting larger, the orks also get stronger/more resilient. I would expect this to carry over to their vital organs as well. After all, they were created with the ability to grow gigantic.

I also recall reading that an ork basically has a truckload of redundant organs, and a physiology that would generally be far more conducive to that kind of thing than that of real living beings.

Although goodness knows how powerful a void whale's lungs must be)
They live in space.

Yes. you seem to have killed my points fairly well. I guess orks were meant to take over the universe, humans would never survive.
Well, until that fateful day, may the emperors golden fillings shine down upon us all.

**Orkeosaurus**

Well, Orks, Tyranids, Necrons, Daemons... there's a lot that outclasses humans physically.

But what they don't have is FAITH, and life without faith is worse than any amount of asphyxiation.

**kaun666**

Back to the main topic... Nothing REALY dies of "old age". It is a term given to deaths from bodily malfunctions and diseases that get more and more frequent as the subject gets older. In the terms of the Orks, considering they are immune to most disease and are VERY good healers, neither of those symptoms would arise... aka immortality.

**Orkeosaurus**

Hmm, true.

Like Wolverine.

**Hollismason**

I dont think Orcs have "lungs" aren't they plants or was that written out.

**SilverMK2**

Hollismason wrote:I dont think Orcs have "lungs" aren't they plants or was that written out.

They have lungs and other internal organs and their blood is red. Their skin is green as they are part fungus.

When they die (and whilst they are living) they release spores which convert the local world into an Ork world... squigs, fungus, grots, orks, etc...

That is why you have to burn them, to destroy the spores, otherwise they keep coming back. I believe that they can be frozen in ice and snow and reanimate when they thaw out. I remember that being mentioned in one of the Cain novels I think.

**Emperors Faithful**

I know that gretchin and such don't live long. The most ancient one in existence was called "Something the Lucky" and lived for a good long 7 years before being sat on.

**Orkeosaurus**

Makari, I think.

**Emperors Faithful**

Death by Warboss Ass. It must be fun to be an ork coroner.

**ChaoticOrkz**

Emperors Faithful wrote:I know that gretchin and such don't live long. The most ancient one in existence was called "Something the Lucky" and lived for a good long 7 years before being sat on.

"Makari the Grot, luckiest of all his kind, lived to the ripe old age of nine before finally being sat on by his master and subsequently fed to an ill-tempered squiggoth"

**Corpsesarefun**

Grots are immortal too, but are quickly killed by orks.

**Orkeosaurus**

One day we will have justice...

**Emperors Faithful**

Why do people think orks are immortal?
Even the biggest trees and plants aren't IMMORTAL!

**Orkeosaurus**

Orks are genetically engineered.

However, there's a big difference between not aging and not suffering the passage of time. Even if orks don't biologically age they'll still get worn down if they're not actively regenerating. A lot of human aging is actually just the kind of wear and tear you'd get on account of being around that long.

We know orks have a lot of regenerative ability, but we also know they scar. I'd think they'd end up looking old eventually, even if that just means they're tough as old boots and slightly more ill-tempered.

**Emperors Faithful**

But there is no possibilty that they are immortal.

**Orkeosaurus**

Well, they can be killed, obviously.

As to whether they would die without someone else's intervention (or without blowing themselves up), it's hard to say. The necrons are robots and they still suffer from being as old as they are, so orks would probably run into trouble eventually.

Of course, having a lifespan of 1,000 years is pretty much immortal anyways. Considering that it's never something that would actually come up.