How to positively portray high and mighty characters?
What I mean by "high and mighty" (though I realise this term does not exactly paint anyone in a nice light) are characters who know their worth and know themselves to be better than numerous other people, but are not condescending towards others and do not lack compassion and empathy. They are simply imbued with a sense of grandeur in everything they do, and it is not exaggerated or non-warranted. I mean characters with self-confidence. But I didn't use the term self-confidence because the mindset I'd like to describe goes beyond plain self-confidence. I guess I mean characters who believe or sense they are above others, yet it doesn't make them arrogant or vain.
I tried looking up different synonyms by myself already, which is my first step when lacking words to describe what I want, and could only find words with negative nuances, which is not at all what I'm interested in. I'm mostly looking for adequate terms rather descriptions of behaviours.
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Literature offers many and varied examples to learn from.
Study Tolkien. Many characters in The Fellowship of the Ring (and the subsequent books of the Lord of the Ring series) fit this description. Examples include but are not limited to: Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Saruman, Aragorn, Legolas, Elrond, Boromir, Faramir, Galadriel, Arwen, Glorfindel, Théoden, Éomer, etc.
Also George R.R. Martin. Many characters (too many to mention) from A Song of Ice and Fire series also match this description. Examples include but are not limited to: Daenerys Targaryen, Rhaegar Targaryen, Jon Snow, Ned Stark, Robb Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Robert Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Renly Baratheon, Brienne of Tarth, Tywin Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Loras Tyrell, Margaery Tyrell, Olenna Tyrell, Joer Mormont, Lyanna Mormont, Jorah Mormont, Barristan Selmy, Bendric Dondarrion, and many, many, many more.
Other good examples are Aslan and the White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone from The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and the Wizard of Oz and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
You could begin by selecting an existing character from literature who is most similar to your target character, then model your approach after that author.
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I wouldn't call them "High and Mighty"; that is automatically pejorative and carries the air of "haughty", and disdain for commoners.
I'd portray such people as intelligent, insightful, and perhaps describe them as "Accomplished", "Brilliant", or "Skillful".
There are plenty of sports stars, actors, singers, lawyers and self-made multi-millionaires that fit that bill, that began in the lower or middle class and used a natural skill, honed by years of work and sacrifice, along with brains to become who they are.
They know they are special, they suffer from no delusions that what they did can be done by "anybody". Some know they were just plain lucky to be born with the right combination of genes and brains to succeed. Others that began life rich may be smart enough to know this too, that they didn't choose to be born rich and smart, that was pure luck.
Knowing that, they'd be stupid to hold any disdain for those not born as lucky as them, born with lesser skills, brains, or resources. And they are smart enough to know that being condescending is insulting and non-productive, and smart enough to have compassion for the plight of those born on the opposite end of the spectrum from themselves -- The distinctly unlucky.
To be "imbued with a sense of grandeur" sounds haughty to me, too self-important. I'd just say these people pursue, because it is within their capacity, really big projects and aim for society changing results. They have big ideas, they are highly intelligent, and they are going about the business of leveraging their resources and influence to implement these big ideas.
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