[randomdata]

ORM is orthogonal to SQL. The purpose of ORM is to transform relations (sets of tuples) to object graphs and back again. ORM toolkits provide some kind of declaration method to describe how that mapping should occur to save you the slog of doing it by hand.

SQL is the usual mode for receiving those relations, and so many ORM toolkits also include query builders to help with that level of abstraction, but theoretically an ORM toolkit could require you to write SQL in the raw.

[zzzeek]

it is so refreshing to see the correct answer stated so succinctly, even though it's buried in the middle of yet another one of these "duh, ORMs suck, write raw SQL" threads (isn't everyone here bored of these discussions yet?). congrats on being one of so very few who gets it.