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During plate convergence, shallow subduction or underthrusting of the lower-plate lithosphere beneath an overriding plate often results in far-field intraplate deformation, as observed in the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene North American Laramide or Cenozoic Himalayan-Tibetan orogen. Perplexingly, during this shallow-slab process, wide expanses of crust between the plate boundary and intraplate orogen do not experience significant synchronous deformation. These apparently undeformed crustal regions may reflect (1) a strong, rigid plate, (2) increased gravitational potential energy (GPE) to resist shortening and uplift, or (3) decoupling of the upper-plate lithosphere from any basal tractions. Here we review the geology of three orogens that formed due to flat slab subduction or underthrusting: the Himalayan-Tibetan, Mesozoic southeast China, and Laramide orogens. These orogens all involved intraplate deformation >1000-km from the plate boundary, large regions of negligible crustal shortening between the plate-boundary and intra-plate thrust belts, hot crustal conditions within the hinterland regions, and extensive upper-plate porphyry copper mineralization. A hot and weak hinterland is inconsistent with it persisting as an undeformed rigid block. GPE analysis suggests that hinterland quiescence is not uniquely due to thickened crust and elevated GPE, as exemplified by shallow marine sedimentation with low surface elevations in SE China. Comparison of these intracontinental orogens allows us to advance a general model, where hot orogenic hinterlands with a weak, mobile lower crust allow decoupling from underlying basal tractions exerted from flat-slab or underthrusting events. This hypothesis suggests that basal tractions locally drive intraplate orogens, at least partially controlled by the strength of the upper-plate lithosphere.