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I am totally aware that probably no Ork has died of natural causes unless you count a bolter round in the head as a natural cause. But just how old can Orks become? As there is probably no official answer to this, what is the oldest Ork that appears in the WH40k-Universe?

I was able to find Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka which led the second and third WAAAAGH to Armageddon, which took place 941.M41 and 998.M41. According to the Wiki article on him, the first record about Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka was 932.M41:

The first mention of Ghazghkull came some nine Terran years before the Second War for Armageddon in 932.M41.

From the Fandom Article on Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka

So, he's at least 66 years old. Is there any Ork we know more of how old they've become? Or has it ever been stated how old Orks can become?

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    High velocity lead poisoning is definitely classed under natural causes for an Ork
    – Separatrix
    Feb 20, 2020 at 12:04

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No official source states anything but there are a few possibilities.

possibility 1:

Since Orks are a fungus we can compare them with fungus from our own planet and draw the conclusion that they are functionally immortal from old age.

possibility 2:

However the Eldar who were also created by the old ones live up to roughly a 1000 standard Terran years so it could very well be that an Orks natural life span is around the same number, however no Ork has ever lived long enough to find out as far as we know.

Its should also be noted that we have never observed any traits associated with age with any ork, they grow not because of their age but by fighting, ork boys have been seen to become as big as nobs within a few years of combat.

As far as i know of there is no official oldest Ork but Ghazkul is most certainly over 100 years by now starting from his low status as Ork boy to the most feared of all by now.

Personally i think they are nigh on immune to the effects of time.

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  • Only caveat I would add is that Mankind was created with the Orks and Eldar so I don't think that is any clear indication. As we don't have any evidence of an Ork dying of old age I think we have to lean more towards possibility 1. I think power shifts much to regularly in their society for us to get any clear indication otherwise.
    – Odin1806
    Feb 20, 2020 at 18:36
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    I don't remember if it was from an official source, but I seem to remember there being a story about running into a planet/small moon that had a bunch of orks on it, just kind of hurtling through space where it had no business being ... and turns out it was actually an ork that had gotten so big it was mistaken for a planet and was just curled up and sleeping. Which is another way of saying orks live until they're killed.
    – aslum
    Feb 20, 2020 at 19:47
  • @Odin1806 Mankind wasn't created with Orks and Eldars - this has been redconned ages ago. Eldars as a race are over 60 million years older than humans, homo sapiens is barely 200,00 years old.
    – Yasskier
    Feb 20, 2020 at 19:50
  • @Yasskier - I had never heard that. When was that? Do you remember a source I can read? According to Lexicanum the Old Ones creating Mankind was still valid in 2002 Necrons codex...
    – Odin1806
    Feb 20, 2020 at 20:14
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    @Odin1806 I think it has been pulled out with the appearance of Newcrons (5th edition), when Pariahs unit (originally created from human Blanks) became retconned as "just a small experiment" rather than the result of Necrons meddling in Old Ones plan 60 million years ago "Humanity had not evolved yet during the time of the Necrontyr, and, as such, the Necrons never seeded humanity with the Pariah Gene." 1d4chan.org/wiki/Pariah
    – Yasskier
    Feb 20, 2020 at 20:27
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Gorkamorka indicates that Orks rarely live past thirty (although of course that is likely due to violence), but stronger Orks can live longer. Assuming Orks and Orcs are somewhat related (as they used to be), the old Warhammer RPG supplement Death Rock confirms that life expectancy, but it features an Orc wizard over a century old (but then again, a magic user).

If we're trying to estimate some ages of other Orks, overall, there aren't a lot of precise durations for events (there's a lot of "A few years" and such. Ork teeth grow back after 5 years is one of the few precise length we get). The only other example I can think of is that in "The Wolf Time" (In The First Book of the Astronomican), Orks arrive on the planet Xit about 50 years ago. At least Navigator Fogg is said to have been there originally, and it is somewhat implied for Governor Kulo and a few other Orks.

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  • Isn't Gorkamorka pretty old? I know that in old editions Orks had (briefly) genders and were reproducing in more traditional ways. There were even models of female Orks (in a cheerleader outfit....)
    – Yasskier
    Jun 18, 2020 at 2:20
  • The "ork" Cheerleader models were most likely Orcs (not Orks) from Blood Bowl, an off-shoot of Warhammer Fantasy.
    – MPF
    May 28, 2021 at 10:26

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