A story in pictures and a few words. So, Valheim's stupid asshole RNG sent me on half a world tour just to get to the Elder:
On the bright side, Haldor happened to be right next to the Elder. Like, really right next to it:
Usually I'd erect two or three indestructible pillars with the hoe to defeat the Elder. It's pretty easy anyways, but I wondered if it had the same restrictions as all the regular mobs when it comes to Haldor's force field. Turns out, it has. If you're inside Haldor's force field the Elder will just go on an erratic demented stroll through the woods (quite fitting) and just randomly shoot in all directions instead of attacking you.
Even easier picking than usual :)
In case you want to experience it yourself, the world seed is 3Wy3wVd6Lj
Turns out if you went south the Elder was on the next island over…
All the markers I found pointed to that one location. I don't know what their mechanics are ... do they point to the closest location?
I'm pretty sure they point to the closest one
I was just making a joke, but if you want to test the theory you can type your map seed into a website and it will show the spawn locations of every boss.
Sometimes the game wigs out and sends you to a far away boss rather than the closest.
https://m.valheim-map.world/
I know valheim-map, but I don't want to spoiler that world for me. I've barely explored it.