Why is James Delos present in William's therapy/subconscious struggle in S3E6?

In S3E6 of Westworld we see that William is receiving a traditional therapy at the mental institution. During the therapy William saw his earlier selves as well as James Delos. As a personal opinion, I think in that dream he is trying to review his past and different stages of his life and review pros/cons of his decisions during his life. Therefore, presence of his earlier selves is reasonable.

But why is James Delos there? Even if we consider that he is there because of William's self-torment of conscience, presence of his daughter will be more reasonable.

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Best Answer

James Delos was a central feature in Williams life. Both because he'd marred Delos's daughter and because William was groomed by Delos to take over the business. After what we've learned in Season 3 we might guess that William would be likely to see a powerful, accomplished man, who took an interest in him as a replacement father figure.

However William eventually came to despise Delos as a crude, cruel, and ruthless man, who'd killed his own son by turning him away in a moment of need, another failed father. William had always imagined that he was a better, more ethical person than James Delos and certainly a better father. He continued to resurrect the Delos host long past any hope of the immortality project succeeding, but as a way of torturing a man he despised.

After pushing Delos into retirement, ravaging the hosts, and killing his own daughter, William has to come to grips with the fact that despite his works of philanthropy he has behaved no better than Delos. The father figure who he sat in judgement of, now sits in judgement of him.