I just watched as a villager became an elder, but no new totem sprang up. I wonder if it has something to do with an earlier elder having the same name, so there was one totem for that name already? It stinks to have waited so long for it...Has that happened to anyone else?

I had an two people with the same name (male and female) and they each had their own totem. Have you searched the entire island for it?

I did, and it isn't there. Such a bummer...

Have you moved your other totems to see if it was underneath one?

Well I hadn't, but I just did, and it really isn't there...

I read that they're sometimes placed in the middle of the ocean? Have you looked there, too?

I looked everwhere. That elder didn't get a totem

Are you sure the villager is an elder?

How many totems did you have already?

I had nine, and in my statistics, it still says I have nine, even though it should be ten. And yes, I'm sure she was an elder, I kept putting her on building and I watched her because she was so close, so when her status changed, I knew right away, and began looking for her totem. It just nevere registered her accomplishment...