Hi,
My name is Hege Høibye, but I go mostly by Ragnelle online. I live on the western coast of Norway, by one of the fjords. I have studied history of ideas, and word literature at the University of Oslo, and Drama and theatre at the Collage of Oslo and worked for about 10 years as an oral story-teller. Then I began studying theology at the University of Oslo and am now Cand.Theol - which equals a Master in theology + one year of seminary. I am a minister in the Church of Norway (Lutheran). My main hobby (which might be relevant) is horses (I have two). I have done some combat-related riding, but not very much.
I am old enough to have been a fan of Tolkien's books before the Jackson movies. I don't recall how old I was when I first read LotR or The Hobbit, but I remember that our mother read it to us (me and my twin sister), and we stopped after Bilbo escaped from the goblin caves - Gollum was too scary. We were at lest 8 at the time, if not a few years older. We read Farmer Giles of Ham instead. Neither of us picked up The Hobbit again until we were 13-14. But about the same time we read LotR together, and I have loved that book since. I did not get in contact with other Tolkien fans until the Jackson movies, though.
I have no tech skills, I fear, but would like to help with, for instance, keep tack of a theme or world usage, perhaps write a paper/article on a theme. I have practical experience with oral story-telling, and a lot of my education and present work deals with the interpretation of texts.
My work can be busy so I am not sure about how big a project I can commit to, but I would like to contribute in some way. I do want to look at how laughter and smiles work in LotR.
Listing all the kinds of topics I am interested in would take too long, but I have a love for the Eolingas and the Northern Rangers (of the people groups), and for Aragorn (of the main characters). I have been fascinated by the concept of the eucatastrophe and sub-creation since I read On Fairy-Stories the first time, and also on how Tolkien's story-telling and language making work together - how myth and language seems to feed of each other in his creative process. And I like poetry. And... well, too long to list all.
I mostly follow through podcast - both because of the time difference and because I often only have time while driving - so I am usually a bit behind the rest of you here.